The Glass Menagerie
by Person With Many Aliases
Summary: Tempered by fire, and as beautiful as crystal, but in the end, their shape is still that of an animal. Velvet Scarlatina's quest to survive the outside world, control the biggest bunch of miscreants and psychotics Vale has ever seen, become a mighty warrior and huntress, and maybe, just maybe, even graduate from school.
1. Unusual Suspects: 6 Days Prior

Fic is mostly an exercise with OCs. I've noticed that over the course the section's inception, the most popular colors have been blue, silver, and green, in about that order.

So I say, "challenge accepted".

"_RWBY"_ series property of Roosterteeth.

Original characters property of author Person With Many Aliases.

* * *

_There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; his coat was spotted brown and white, he had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink sateen. On Christmas morning, when he sat wedged in the top of the Boy's stocking, with a sprig of holly between his paws, the effect was charming._

* * *

The cell doors opened.

Out in the hallway, at least three of Vale's law enforcement stood at ready, fingers looped around their belts that stored an array of crime-stopping tools such as the nightstick, the hand cuffs, and of course, the heavy rod that produced light on one end, and therefore was classified as "a flashlight" rather than "the other truncheon".

All three did their best to look as unimpressed by the motley collection that they had stuffed into their concrete bin. By themselves, the four figures inside were quite pitiful looking in their opinion. Skinny, dirty, squalid, and unarmed. All the same, they caught fragments of the investigation that had been ongoing on the incident a few hours back. Bits of a report, second hand accounts, and rumors that were spinning out of control.

"Utter chaos", "Gang warfare", "Massive ring exposed", "Ship sunk off the coast".

Those people in the cell had been at the center of it. Perhaps even caused all of it. That they survived at all told the police officers far too much.

They kept their hands near their weapons at all times.

"Alright! The four of you are gonna be in a line up! Walk down the hall single file, and into the room at the far end. Don't cause any trouble," One of the cops said.

Beyond that command, the overwhelming silence continued, framed by the staccato of the four bodies shuffling wearily out of their shared room and down the linoleum floor.

The room on the far end they had been instructed to enter consisted of several black lines printed onto one of the walls, used to measure the height of the occupants, and a slightly raised platform to make sure the measurements were perfect. A mirror was built into the wall opposite, with an intercom speaker screwed in above the reflecting pane. Anyone who saw the TV shows would immediately know the mirror was one way, designed to hide the interrogators as they watched the suspects step onto the platform one by one, until they were all lined up against the wall.

Lights snapped on, illuminating the four women as they stood battered and bored out of their skulls.

A voice came through the intercom.

"_Alright, you know the drill. Step forward when I call your number and say the phrase on the card. Suspect One."_

A girl on the far left side stepped forward first. Smooth silver hair dripped down her face, framing blood red eyes. Her style of dress was eclectic, a gray leather jacket, its split off-center and closed by a zipper, a pleated skirt that hit her knees, and from there, her legs secured tight with bandages, blackened and weathered with use, wrapping from her shins downward and around the arch of her soles, leaving toes and heels bare on the floor.

The girl looked down at the card she had carried into the room.

"_Suspect One, step forward and say the phrase on the card."_ The intercom ordered again.

The girl looked to the figure at the other end of the line with a questioning gaze. It nodded. She looked back down at the card and obeyed.

"…Open the safe, before I rip your head off," Suspect One blandly repeated through split lips, failing to understand the significance of her line, before passing the paper card to her left.

"_Suspect Two."_

The next girl half sauntered forward, dressed in a thin tank top, and a pair of heavy shorts that had an uneven hem line, and printed with green forest digital camouflage patterns. One leg ended above her knee, and the other stopped mid shin, above the thick socks and boots she wore. Her red-brown hair was chopped up in a short spiky pixie cut. The nose splint and large bruise on her face couldn't detract from her twinkling dark blue eyes and her wild grin. Perhaps they even enhanced the look as she jumped forward, two fingers raised to pantomime a gun.

"GIMME THE CASH OR IMMA RIP YOUR HEAD OFF YOU SON OF A BITCH MOTHERFUCKGLAABRALGH!"

The garbling came in as she wildly shook her head, tongue swinging side to side in her open mouth, while the intercom cut in.

"_That's enough, get back! Suspect Three!"_

Suspect Two retreated, choking on restrained laughter like the others in the line up were, holding their mouths and looking away from their accomplice's passive-aggression.

The card moved to the tallest of the four, a woman in battered blouse with sleeves torn at spots, blue jeans covered in stitched repairs and a pair of shoes that all looked on the verge of disappearing from wear and tear, and long, feral blue hair pulled back to expose her forehead. A metal studded eye patch sat over her right eye, while the flesh ringing outside of it was a long patch of scar tissue. Her other eye was a pitiless and sunken black, lids dark and wrinkled. Her face and clothes where smeared in ash and char.

She stepped forward and looked down at the card. Then snorted. It brought on another round of barely restrained cough-laughs about her. The pixie cut girl smacked her shoulder for making her laugh again, and she returned her own slug to Suspect Two's.

"Look, before I begin, I've been wired for the last six hours. I need a smoke," the blue haired woman leered widely, showing her steel teeth, the front six on top and bottom having letters embossed on their surface to spell **'GO!GO!'** and** 'ZAFFRE'**.

"_Read the card, Suspect Three."_

"Come on, you guys are just a door down, I'll take whatever cig you got."

"_None of you are leaving this room until you all say the phrase."_

She rolled her eye and sighed, "Fine, fine. Op'n safe 'n' rip y'r head off..."

"_Louder."_

Suspect Three frowned, "What?"

"_Louder, and more clearly."_

"'Open the fucking safe'! Whatever, fuck," Suspect Three all but threw up her hands in annoyance before throwing the battered paper card to the last in line.

"_Suspect Four."_

The last girl in line was dress in the tattered remains of an casual dress, hem chopped up around her knees, and her brown outdoor jacket's seams split at points, hints of wool poking out. Her milk chocolate hair fell down her shoulders, but the most outstanding feature on her were the pair of soft rabbit ears that protruded out the top of her head, real and very much attached, indicating her status as one of Vale's less reputable beings.

Velvet Scarlatina looked down at the card in her hand and chuckled weakly for a second and shook her head. She didn't think she had it in her to even smile given she was most likely about to face time in prison. But everything that had happened in the past day still seemed wholly unreal in her mind, like some bizarre extended dream. Even the words on the card, though she had been there herself to hear them uttered, to see them only as print made everything seem so far away, like it wasn't any of her business.

All the same, she was in a line up. This was really happening.

The faunus took a breath and said the line.

* * *

"Velvet Scarlatina, female Faunus, age seventeen, parents unknown, raised under the care of the Mother Sparks Orphanage until last week… a noticeable aptitude for mechanical engineering that rewarded a scholarship to the Beacon Academy for Grimm Pacification…"

The table lamp was tilted in Velvet's direction, the harsh yellow beam making her wince and cause her animal ears to droop, like a plant wilting in the heat. The figure on the opposite side of the table, her interrogator, spent several minutes, simply reading aloud through a file containing her dossier. It was difficult to make him out with the light in the Faunus' direction, little more than a silhouette masked by a harsh glare.

"_Remember. They want to scare you into saying what they want to hear. Just tell your story and you'll be fine. None of this was your fault."_

Velvet remembered the advice from other girls she shared the cell with, and steeled herself when the interrogator stopped reciting, and began asking.

"No prior criminal history, no indicated propensity for misdemeanor. All in all, a record of a outstanding citizen who's made the most of her opportunities in the face of your various drawbacks," He said, fingers clasped atop the table.

Something about those last words annoyed Velvet.

"Are you talking about how being a Faunus is a drawback…?" She muttered. She wondered how the others would have responded had the man made similar insinuations at them. Stolid silence. A wry retort. Explosive accusations. She wasn't like them, though.

"Only in the broadest sense, I assure you," the interrogator answered, "The opportunities for a Faunus to improve his or her situation in life is sadly limited, and atop that, you entered this world with less than most, with your background stemming from an orphanage.

"But with that said…" The shadow of the interrogator leaned forward slightly, tone changing, "How do you explain your sudden complicity with yesterday's events? How did a girl waiting to take the shuttle flight to Beacon academy wind up on a burning cargo ship out in the bay?"

Velvet was silent, looking down in her lap, brows furrowed. The interrogator spoke for her.

"I can guess that you and your… unusual associates made an agreement while you were in your cell. Have you all finished fabricating the story you'll all tell? You'll say it was an accident? That you four were all victims of circumstance?"

"No, it's not that."

"Is that so?"

"They want me to say it's their fault, that they caused all the trouble, so I can get off lightly."

"But you don't agree with that."

"They're my…" The Faunus turned her head for a second, trying to figure what to say, "I… I'm as responsible as everyone else."

Velvet raised her head, staring into the light, "Mister, I'll tell you everything I know. I won't lie, I won't make up anything. But you have to promise me that you'll be fair to the others… don't be rough on them or anything."

"I'll promise to do what I can, if it means you'll cooperate wholly. This also will be the best for everyone. Including your friends."

A shadow of a finger moved to a tape recorder Velvet realized sat next to the base of the lamp, and pressed a button. The wheels began to spin.

"My friends… I only met them yesterday. I don't even know who they are to me."

"Yet you'd side with them and share their risks."

Velvet nodded slightly. It was likely she didn't even realize she had.

"I was as responsible as they are. It's not fair to them if I just walked away with a slap on the wrist."

"Then tell the truth. Tell me how everything happened."

"Where do you want me to start?"

"Wherever you think is most appropriate. Let's start with something small. According to this file…"

The interrogator looked down at the stack of sheets.

"…You only received notification of your Beacon scholarship a week before yesterday's events. Would you tell me about that?"

Velvet nodded again.

"Like you said…"

* * *

**6 Days Before:**

"But Velvet, I don't wanna leeaaave," The boy whined. He was only a child, dressed in a new sweater and slacks, and on the verge of ruining both with the amount of snot, spittle and tears that were about to burst from his face.

Velvet sighed, and crouched down so she matched his height. The teenaged girl had been helping the boy pack while he was suffering from a sudden bout of petulance the day he was departing the orphanage. Though she tried to keep speaking positively, it seemed Velvet's words didn't help much, until, finally, the young child finally blubbered out his fears and his anxieties. Velvet was familiar with the emotions the departing adopted often went through when leaving Mother Sparks. This was no surprise for her.

"Don't be like this, Albert. Angelica worked hard to find parents for you. Didn't you say you liked them? And that they liked you? Now you have the chance to live with them at their house."

"But I'm gonna leave everyone here now that I've got parents!" Albert moaned.

"Shh, don't think of it like that," Velvet said, rubbing the boy's back soothingly, "Leaving doesn't mean going away forever. Your parents know how many friends you have here. All you have to do is ask them, and they'll let you visit."

"Y-You think so?"

"Goodbye isn't forever, Albert," Velvet said, patting him on the head, "You can visit us, you can write to us, you can call us. Don't think about it as trading families, but getting even more."

With that, Albert was soon bundled up by his new parents, taken to their car, and driven off down the road, the last Velvet seeing of him being his face turned back to look through the rear window towards her as she waved farewell, still looking unsure, but certainly more hopeful than he had been earlier.

The car shrunk away into the distance, and that was that. Velvet turned, dress swaying slightly with her, and looked at the woman who had waved her own farewells to the child. She was older than the rabbit-eared Faunus, her golden years beginning to set in. She had a face worn down with time, but it was far yet from eliminating the gentle expression she had. The kindness she carried would not solve the problems of the world, but for her, it was enough to support the orphanage she ran.

"Hopefully they'll treat him well," Angelica murmured, as they began walking back over the front lawn to Mother Sparks' front entrance.

"They seemed nice enough," Velvet said, shrugging, "I don't see why they wouldn't try and raise him the best they could."

"I just worry, I suppose," The older woman admitted, as they passed through the front doors, into a classic wood furnished vestibule, with a reception desk set in between two stair cases, a little something for visitors. For the residents, it was something they barely recognized as they passed it by

"I probably see too much of my own children in them" Angelica mused, "I shouldn't, but I can't help but feel sad every time I see them leave for better things. The orphanage feels emptier."

"Aw, you shouldn't say that," Velvet laughed, "You'll make the other children feel sad. Besides, now I'm even more worried what will happen to you when _I_ leave."

That comment gave Angelica pause, and made the rabbit ear girl turn around to look at her where they stood in the living area of the orphanage. Through walls, the muffled sound of children playing could be heard.

"Then you'll do it? You'll go and find work in the Schnee company?"

"I've nearly finished my application. Why?"

The older woman rubbed one of her arms. Velvet detected some unease rippling through the woman.

"Are you sure you should be working for them? I just worry… how difficult the miners have it, and how little benefits they give Faunus workers… The company always acts apologetic, but feeling sorry isn't the same as making amends… Are you sure you can't find work elsewhere? I just don't feel good about this."

"Where else would I find work?" Velvet tried to joke, though it really was more the truth, "Besides, it's not like I'll be working in a Dust mine. The recruiters said they were interested in my technical skills, so I'll probably be in an office or something. I'll be fine! It's a secure job, anyways."

"Velvet."

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry…" Angelica almost murmured.

When she said that, Velvet's heart broke into so many different pieces, each wanting to say a different thing. Some parts forgave her guardian figure time and time again. Others ranted and railed, demanding why she had to carve that wound open once more. The rest just bled as usual. It happened every time the matron of the orphanage apologized in _that way_, and every time, it was because it was time to say goodbye to yet another child who found a family that welcomed him or her with open arms, and Velvet watched. Had only ever watched. Could only ever watch.

"Whatever for?" Velvet brightly smiled, "It's not like you did anything wrong. You've treated me so well these years… but I'm grown up now. It wouldn't be fair for me to just keep depending on you, now."

The teenager backed away a few steps, "I… I have to work on that application and resume for the job… I'll see you later, Angelica."

Velvet Scarlatina took off for her room, and left Angelica to stew in her thoughts.

* * *

Velvet, as a Faunus, had been at times acutely aware of how the world saw her. It wasn't all bad, though. She had the support of Angelica, of course, who had seen her grown up and knew her better as a person than as a bipedal animal, and some of the children has been receptive to her, being too young to be yet fully inundated by the beliefs at large. Still, the orphanage was a safety zone… the world outside it, however…

For lesser people, the experiences would have slowly ground away their hopes and dreams. Perhaps for Velvet, who smiled, it still had. Of course, she had a kernel of pride in her talents, scientifically proven, and meaning she had some truly quantified value as an individual.

But as a Faunus, she had come to accept that because of the ears on her head, her place in the world would be somewhere low on the ladder. As it was, that Schnee Dust would be willing to offer her a desk position instead of summarily tossing her into manual labor was already pretty lucky.

It was a very pessimistic point of view, in ways, but it was what Velvet believed.

That was why she was surprised when Angelica entered her room and told her she had a visitor to see her personally, when she had already finished scribbling and signing her application to be mailed out later in the day.

The Faunus followed Angelica into a sitting room that was used for visitors of the orphanage. It wasn't really a room that could be described beyond "pleasant". The walls were painted a soothing green, and a brick fireplace jutted out from one side of the room for that homey touch in the winter seasons. There were some comfortable chairs set about, and a low table stacked with magazines to keep the occupants distracted for a little while.

It was in this room Velvet met her visitor.

For a moment, the girl paused, temporarily stopped by the woman's beauty. Much more a "woman" than Velvet was, a figure wrapped up in a white blouse and black skirt, a purple capelet throw over her shoulders, a straightforward face accented by the rimless glasses she wore, green eyes behind them. Blonde hair pulled up into a proper bun, with one stray bang twisted into a self sustaining curl.

"Velvet Scarlatina? A pleasure to make your acquaintance," The new woman said cordially, if somewhat too clinically, "My name is Glynda Goodwitch. I'm the deputy headmistress of Beacon Academy."

Okay, this was someone Velvet was seriously not expecting to shake hands with.

"It's… it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance…!" Velvet managed to politely eep, "Is there something I can help you with at Mother Sparks?"

"There is," Glynda said, as she reached into a small satchel she had under her arm, and pulled out a sheath of papers, "It's entirely voluntary, but I would like you to take a small test."

"What kind of test…?"

The magazines were stacked and pushed aside on the coffee table to make room for the spread of white sheets. As Velvet looked at them, she realized they were detailed blueprints for a…

"This is a basic chemical-Dust hybrid firearm used by Hunters world wide. It's an old, but standard design. I like you to look over it and suggest three improvements to this ten year old weapon, proven as a reliable, resistant to weather, and extremely simple to operate."

The Faunus swallowed at the papers. On them, a printed maze of parts and shapes, dotted arrows pointing this way and that, that would harmoniously join everything together into an S9 Carbine Practical. It was almost sacrilege to try and intrude on this laboriously fine tuned concept with _improvements_.

"How do you want me to add suggestions?"

"You do it any way you wish. You can draw on the sheets if it helps you. I just like to hear the line of reasoning when you do so."

For an instant, Velvet's gaze shifted to look at a corner of the room, where Angelica had hung back, observing the proceedings. The matron caught Velvet's unsure, querying look, and with the subtlest of motions, nodded, assuring her.

Angelica's permission shouldn't have meant much, but somehow, seeing her give an okay somehow gave Velvet the needed moral imperative to start talking back. Though hesitantly, while she reached for a felt tip pen that came with the stack of papers.

"It's a ten year old weapon, right? Perhaps… we can start by replacing the sights?"

"What would you suggest, then?" Glynda asked.

"They just need to be raised… isn't it that a three dot sight is an improvement…?" Velvet said, making a small mark to the sheets to remind herself. Just a small one.

"What else?" Glynda pressed slightly.

"Just very basic stuff… The grip needs stepping for better contact, and you need extend the safety... and make it ambidextrous…"

Slowly and surely, as Glynda's proddings began to disappear as Velvet disappeared into her own world, her suggestions losing their meekness and her scribbles becoming more bold, arrows, circles, and crosses joining her words.

"The magazine well needs to be beveled…" Velvet muttered to herself, raising one sheet to the light to peer through the blueprint, "This designer didn't believe in free floating barrels, did he? He shouldn't use the barrel as a way to secure the frame…"

Velvet herself didn't realize how much time had passed, as she sketched out a dirty concept to replace the gas system with more reliable one she had heard about. It was a rare thing for the Faunus to have a free hand in playing with something new, something besides old TVs and abandoned toys in need of repair. Not that they weren't relevant. Velvet's talent had a lot to owe to her desire to help others, but all the same, these blueprints were the first time in months she had a _challenge._

It was only when she one of her arrows hit the same target again that she snapped out of her intense eye furrowing haze of tinkering.

"Did I talk about the iron sights? Rails are good but, perhaps if we update- Oh. I already made the suggestion…"

Velvet blinked. The exhilaration left her, and she realized a good third of the blueprints were almost unintelligible with a multitude of her black felt additions.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She apologized, out of instinct.

"It's fine," Beacon's deputy headmistress dismissed Velvet's apology off hand, picking up one of the blueprints, "These are copies, anyways. You have some very interesting ideas, Miss Scarlatina."

"W-Where did you learn so much about guns, Velvet?" Angelica had to add, more than slightly mortified that she had somehow missed that her oldest charge at some point gained a working theory of weapon engineering, until now.

"Um… sometimes when I'm in town, I buy some magazines?" The faunus offered guiltily, "I read about cars and motorcycles, too, but Hunter weaponry always had the best material. I… I guess you could say I picked up a few things since then?"

"A 'few things' is putting it lightly. The level of mechanical engineering you've displayed is something people would expect of university students," Glynda stated simply.

University level? That couldn't be right. She was just… it was just… well… you know… _Where was this going?_

Velvet tried to play it off with a lame chuckle, "Eheh… well, machines always came naturally to me, and the children here are always breaking something, so I got a lot of practice, too."

The Beacon deputy head kept her stern look up as she asked, "Have you ever considered taking advantage of this talent for work or study?"

"To be honest, I've just finished my application for a job at the Schnee Dust Company. The recruiter said I could be guaranteed a position in their transportation department."

Velvet wasn't entirely sure why this woman would be so concerned, but the faunus was instantly shriveling under Ms. Goodwitch's powerful stare that was obviously informing her "That Was The Best You Could Come Up With?"

"…It seemed like a good offer…!" Velvet began to explain.

Glynda's eyes narrowed slightly, and the severity of the look increased exponentially.

"…At the time."

"Perhaps you would be open to another offer?" Velvet's visitor suggested, before another paper was handed over. Taking it, the faunus only needed a glance before she realized what she was holding.

"A Beacon application…!?" She turned to look at Glynda with nothing but complete and utter confusion, "This is for me?"

Glynda's eyebrow rose in a gesture of disbelief. That meant the answer was 'yes'.

"But… but why?"

"I thought it was obvious, but if you require an explanation…" the older woman sighed, "Beacon Academy runs additional programs that scout out exceptional talents that may be beneficial to the hunting community. Not just fighting, but also tracking, and applied Dust sciences, for example. In this, the student transcripts your school made available transcripts showed you have a natural talent for mechanical engineering, something I've just seen for myself."

"W-well…"

"Believe it or not, this is a useful skill in the field of hunting, Ms. Scarlatina. It can translate to the development and maintenance of Hunting tools, a skill many a prospective student sadly keep overlooking because they're too busy hitting Grimm over the head."

"…Is there a career in weapon development?"

"Doubtless. We at Beacon believe in cultivating a wider field of specializations, and if you're willing, the headmaster would like to personally invite you to train there, with full scholarships."

"F-Full!?" Velvet spluttered, "You mean, like, everything paid for?"

"So long as you continue to display the same talent you've just shown here."

This was insane. Well and truly insane. Velvet had been ready to advance to the next stage of her mediocre existence when all of a sudden a chorus fell from the sky, proclaiming her generally unfeminine, but highly necessary past time of poking at broken things for the children and the neighbors was enough to consider her training at the most elite hunting school in Vytal, the place where legendary warriors were born and bred and-

Wait.

"Um, Miss Goodwitch? If I go to Beacon, does that mean I'll have to… fight monsters?"

"That is implicit. At Beacon, you will be required to achieve a minimal level of combat ability for grading purposes, and this will include live field training and exercises. For less prepared students, we provide a number of extracurricular combat training programs."

"'Live'… you mean I'll have to fight Grimm?"

"Yes."

Velvet winced. The affirmation had all the comfort of a cold knife between her ribs. Well, wasn't that quite a trade off? If she recalled, being at Beacon meant staying four years. Four years of free tutelage, four years of food and security, four years of prestige, and the inclusion amongst one of the most valued armed forces on Remnant.

This came with four years of learning _how_ to fight, which meant getting _into_ fights, which opened the possibility of getting beat up by other students who probably didn't like her very much because she was a faunus. If not them, then it meant getting into fights with great big monsters full of enough teeth and claws to outfit a cutlery shop, and probably would like her too much as small appetizer.

The rabbit was pretty sure she knew where she stood where her combat skills rated.

"But the scholarship! If you graduate, you can really get out there!" Velvet thought to herself, before mentally adding, "But the giant slavering beasts that could probably bite your head off without even trying!"

Career Opportunities! An early, shallow grave in some godforsaken jungle!

My god, Velvet, if you take this, you _don't_ have to live the rest of your life working for pennies under the Schnee! Yes, because I'll be busy being _eaten alive_ by some giant crocodile I'll be asked to poke for homework! And they would ask me! They would ask me first, because I'm a faunus, and nobody cares if a faunus dies!

With all the churning thoughts and maybes and what-ifs going through the rabbit's mind loud enough that Angelica and Glynda could see her furrowing her brows in indecision.

Finally, at the end, when faced by the the girl gave the most sensible answer she could

"C-Can I think about this?"

Glynda didn't appear particularly affected, and simply nodded in accent, "Take the time you need, but I'll need to have an answer soon."

* * *

Velvet departed from the room not long after, with a sort of languid pace that Glynda knew showed she was distracted by her hard thinking over the matter. That was good. It meant she was taking the offer seriously.

As for her, when she and Angelica left the visitor's room, the orphanage matron graciously led the huntress to the room that doubled up as her office and study. It certainly was a good sight more personal than other rooms in Mother Sparks: all the furniture showed signs of regular and unintended use. A small round table in the middle was surrounded by a few battered wood chairs that were all busy hosting stacks of papers, files and other knickknacks, some which spilled from table to chair to floor, like some frozen paper waterfall. Old books of all shapes were all lined up on older shelves, ready to be drawn at any time that Angelica needed recall anything. Angelica's own desk was modest, and equally swarming with paper and books, save for the small work space she could carve for herself in the never ending job of looking after all the children who had made a home here.

A small table set flush against the wall held a tray with a tea kettle and cups, which Angelica used to pour one warm drink out and offered to Glynda, who thanked her.

"Oh, you don't have to thank me," Angelica smiled slightly, "If anything, I should be the one thanking you. This scholarship of yours really is a godsend for Velvet, though I don't think she realizes it yet."

Glynda took one calculating sip of her tea, before responding, "You seem to be very attached to Miss Scarlatina."

"I would like to think so. Velvet's been here the longest of all the children. She's practically a second daughter to me, really."

"Is that so? Do you know what became of her parents?"

"Honestly?" Angelica shrugged, "I really don't know. Velvet was too young to really remember what happened, and she was transferred here from another center. As far as she knows, this place is her home… which is what breaks my heart when I think about it."

"I think I understand what you mean. So no one considered adopting Velvet as a child."

Angelica's pleasant expression began to melt, "Not once did anyone ever come in and give her a even second look. Some of the things they had the nerve to say to me, whether or not Velvet was in the room, like she was some thoughtless animal, when they didn't even try to speak to her! She waited year after year, hoping..."

"What happened?"

"Nothing," the matron said, downcast, "Which perhaps is the worst. She was twelve then, and after the visitors left, she just shrugged, smiled, and went back to her errands. After that, she tried harder to look after the younger children and help around the orphanage. I realized she gave up and accepted her place here."

"Most adults looking to adopt prefer younger children. They don't want to deal with the baggage of memories someone older would have already developed. Velvet would be statistically too old for them. It's not your fault," Glynda said, diplomatically.

"I know, but it's not about her age. Velvet gave up because she finally decided that since she was a faunus, it was how things had to be," Angelica sighed heavily, "It's petty of me, but sometimes I look up at the stars and the moon and ask, 'what sort of world is this? That it would give those _ears_ to this beautiful, intelligent girl that does nothing but belittle and torment her?' She's given up, and now she's willing to work at the first dead end job available to her…"

Angelica's dark features transformed as she fixed onto the Beacon huntress with a determined look.

"If your school can give her the chance to change all that, then I beg you, find a way to bring Velvet there!"

The Beacon deputy headmistress' mouth curled up at the sides for a second, before retaining her professional composure, "Your dedication to your charge is admirable. But if you are so adamant, I should also warn you of certain…" Glynda thought for a second to find the next word, "_realities_ if Miss Scarlatina accepts."

"Oh?" Angelica said, a streak of wariness moving over her face.

"Hunting might not be as blatantly segregated as it is working under the Schnee, but there are certain prejudices that run at the upper levels, too. Even if Velvet Scarlatina graduates from Beacon, she or any faunus might be expected to undertake more dangerous missions, or have certain accomplishments overlooked. Hunting comes with its own nepotism, sadly."

Velvet's guardian was silent for a second, before hesitantly asking, "But… if she survives…?"

"If Scarlatina has a good team supporting her, and she works hard, she can't be denied the full benefits allotted to a huntress. Even if she doesn't commit to a fulltime career, being a Beacon graduate should open up more than enough doors that she won't need to spend her life working on quarry drills."

Angelica nodded, somewhat appeased. No journey was ever easy, "Now, if I could get Velvet to see things this way…"

"I'm certain the allure of the benefits will overcome any doubts she has," Glynda answered succinctly.

All good witches had a talent for seeing the future, apparently. The moment the deputy headmistress made her assertion, the door to Angelica's office was rapped upon from the other side, before cracking open so that two familiar brown rabbit ears poked through, followed by Velvet Scarlatina's sheepish expression.

"Angelica? I was just thinking- Oh, miss Goodwitch, you're here!"

"Do you have something to say Velvet? Remember your manners. Don't just poke your head in, come inside," The matron chided, with an amused smile on her face.

Velvet ducked her head quickly, with an apology quickly slipping out of her mouth as she slipped inside the room, and stood, fingers wringing themselves as she looked uncertainly at Glynda.

Prospective student Velvet may have been, the huntress regardless spared little patience, and preempted, "Yes, Scarlatina?"

"U-um!" Velvet yipped, back jumping up straight, "I was just thinking about your offer to go to Beacon, and I decided I should accept. I would be foolish to turn down such a generous offer."

Glynda nodded, and Angelica did her best to keep her smile from being too ecstatic.

"Excellent. You'll still need to fill in your application, though. If you wish, I can also provide you some material to read to familiarize yourself with Beacon."

"That'd be great," The rabbit said, nodding in accent.

"When you're ready, come to Vale by the 17th. There will be a shuttle on that day to transport new students to Beacon, otherwise you'll have to find your own method of transportation to Beacon. Try not to be late, or you'll miss your initiation ceremony."

"No ma'am, I won't be late for anything!" Velvet said, still looking unsure, but more hopeful than before.

"Well, then, I hope to see you in a week," Glynda answered, and raised one open hand.

Velvet didn't realize it, but when she shook that hand, it began a series of events that would find her jumping off a ship in the middle of Vale's bay, flames licking at her back, and the percussion of a mighty explosion ringing in her head.


	2. Unusual Suspects: 18 Hours Ago

_Her father, however, was dead. He was King of the Silver Isles, and for his goodness had been loved by all his subjects. Mirabella was his only child; and her mother having married again, she wanted to get rid of Mirabella, so that her little boy Gliglu might inherit the crown. So she ordered one of her servants to lead Mirabella into the pine-wood far away and leave her there, hoping the wolves would find her and eat her._

* * *

"Would you like something to eat?" The interrogator asked.

Velvet gave a suspicious squint at the silhouette on the other side of the light slamming into her face. How nice it was for a man to offer a meal when he didn't even have the courtesy to show his face.

Perhaps it was just bias, given one of her cell mates had given enthusiastic tales of interrogation techniques they'd use on them, including softening them up with a good dish, before pulling at their heartstrings to guilt them into confessions. Then the woman beside avid storyteller cuffed her in the head and told her that was only used in really melodramatic soap operas (and then cuffed her again when queried _how_ she had known it was from soap operas).

The silhouette must have already figured her out, and gave a quiet chuckle.

"You're already cooperating, Miss Scarlatina, there's no need to be suspicious of foul play. You've simply missed breakfast and it would be good to eat something in the meantime. Besides, the idea I would use food for interrogation is only something a television show would use."

"Fine… just a breakfast sandwich, please," Velvet mumbled, still suspicious, but also equally embarrassed at how easily she was seen through. That and her stomach had starting wringing itself to torture its owner into filling it the moment it heard the word "eat".

There were a few moments pause as the interrogator poked his head through the door to ask a guard outside to acquire food, before returning to his chair. For the few minutes Velvet saw him move, she could make out the frame of a well worn suit.

"Well, until your meal arrives, perhaps you could fill me in on a few particulars… how did you arrive in Vale the day before?"

"By overland train. It was the fastest route."

"I see," The interrogator said, half to himself while he flipped through a file, "There were some reports of a car jacking near a train station…"

"Oh. _That,_" Vel dully retorted. Of all the things this man had to start with…

"So, are you admitting to committing theft of a car?"

What was she supposed to say? "Yes"? Then the man would have free hand to start dumping one charge after another on her, without even getting the whole story. Oh, she stole a car, there we go, case closed.

Velvet sighed, "I was probably in the car you're talking about, but it was an emergency."

"What sort of emergency?"

"Will you listen to the whole story before judging?"

"I promised I would listen."

"Yes… but will you pay attention?" Velvet said, a certain twinge of spite and bravery.

The interrogator was quiet for a second, but then responded, "Yes, I will pay attention to everything you say."

Velvet looked at the tape recorder, still spinning and capturing her voice, before turning back to speak again.

"I took the train to Vale. It was the fastest route the orphanage could afford. Angelica helped me pack, I said goodbye to the children, and then travelled overnight. When I arrived, it was late afternoon…"

* * *

Perhaps it was a bit beastly (heh), but for Velvet, the first impression she'd get of a new environment was not from sight, not from sound, but of smell. Mother Sparks was filled with the smell of dried dirt from the child trampled yard in the back and the road in front, that crept into its halls and merged with the scent of laundry with too much starch, and old wood. The train to Vale was filled with sterile air interlaced with a cacophony of snack foods and complementary meals, and the musty smell of felt in every chair.

Now, even as Velvet walked through the train station, her nose was already sensing traces of Vale in the air, getting a feel for its nature. Traces of sea salt from the bay it was built next to, the earthiness of classic brick and mortar construction, the subtle ionization of electrical cables strung up across the city, the grease and char of outdoor food stalls…

Velvet had never smelt a city alive like this. An adventurous smile was starting to form on her lips unbidden, as she walked on.

A new city, a new school, new opportunities! _It was like an adventure!_ The rabbit faunus was certainly dressed like she was ready for one, with a tan jacket over her plain brown dress, carrying her black suitcase with the bare necessities she would bring to Beacon, like it were an outdoors rucksack (Angelica assured her that all she had to do was send a letter, and the matron would send along anything else of hers that she needed).

The beckoning of the new life was so enthralling that Velvet had almost missed the sneering voice that passed her by as she exited the station.

"Tch, just we need, more faunus immigrating… we'll be hip deep in the petting zoo next week, eating us out of our houses…"

It was a comment tailored just for her, loud enough to remind her whatever reason she was here, she was not welcome.

_It's just one man's opinion. Just one man. He's just mean. Not every person out there is like that. Don't get discouraged, _Velvet tried to console herself, as she brushed on, her open smile collapsing into a merely cheerful lip curling. Still not the best way to be enter a new city, all said.

Dropping down the paved steps and out into the sidewalk, the rabbit faunus could finally see Vale in its true glory.

Rows and rows of squat, classical architecture lay before her. Gray bricked buildings that had been built and rebuilt according to tradition, with a minor detail of modern sensibilities integrated into the historically shaped structures. Old style street lamps now fuelled by Dust, modern vehicles lining streets that must have been used for centuries, and the citizens of Vale breathing into it ever new knowledge of fashion, accessories, and cuisine of the current era.

The sky was blue with the late afternoon. The sort of brilliant blue that grew ever richer, with hints of gold as the sun began its descent, while shadows began to stretch out and languish in the daylight, becoming ever braver to herald the coming of the darkness of night.

Velvet took another deep breath, and felt the cool air enter her lungs. She was actually here. She was actually going to Beacon. Well, sort of. As far as the rabbit knew, she had arrived too early. The shuttle flight was actually due in the afternoon of the next day, which was preferable for her anyways. Velvet now had a day to unwind from the whole week long blitz of getting mentally prepared, packed, and travelled to Vale. With Beacon just around the corner, she had time to get accustomed to metropolis, and see the sights.

But first, it was high time to find a hostel to cram her things away.

Nearby where Velvet was standing was a row of checkered white cars. It was quite obvious she was looking at a row of taxis, and it was quite busy with exiting train passengers quickly shoveling themselves into the next vacant vehicle possible. Taxi drivers were quickly helping their future fares pack away their luggage, and driving them off across the city.

For Velvet, who was watching this madcap activity, she sighed and shook her head hopelessly. There was no way she could catch a ride with this mass. Someone of her size would be too easily pushed about, and besides, the taxi drivers would never accept someone like_ her_ when they had plenty of other normal people to ferry around.

No, they'd just brush her off. If she wanted to find transportation, she'd have to look. Besides, it wasn't like Velvet was so old that she couldn't afford a little walk around town.

It was with this resolve that took Velvet down Vale's sidewalks, enjoying the sights. Velvet had no real plan besides "find a hotel, or a taxi", and went where her feet took her. Turning a corner, Velvet found herself in an empty back street. It looked like a residential district that wasn't seeing much use yet, since the work day still had yet to end, with empty sidewalks, sleepy cafes and convenience stores, and closed bars that were only waiting for the days end before residents would return home, taking time to buy a snack or a drink. As it was, only a rabbit faunus stood, out of place there as much as any other location in the city, an outsider and interloper.

However, in the over stretched shadows of the buildings, Velvet realized that there was one other object of note in the street. Another taxi sat packed in the side, unoccupied, yet she could clearly see a driver in the seat, shuffling for some reason. A little strange, but as long as the seat was open, the driver wouldn't be able to refuse a fare.

Steeling herself, Velvet strode with the confidence she had, opened the back passenger door, and threw herself and her suitcase in. Settling on the seat, she looked, and saw no head behind the steering wheel.

On the other hand, she could hear the sound of a shuffling body seemingly struggling with something below the dashboard.

Velvet waited ten more seconds before realizing that she was in fact, below the notice of whatever was absorbing the taxi driver's attention so thoroughly.

"Uh… hello?"Velvet began to ask.

When asked, Velvet, like many others, would probably imagine a taxi driver as a middle aged male with perhaps some bad weight distribution and maybe a funny accent. This would explain her general confusion when she did not see a male, but a great slab of sharpened steel rising from behind the combined front seats, attached to a covered head.

Some figure rose, slight of shape, but strangely terrifying. A white scarf was draped over the general head region of the body, fabric wrapped loosely around the neck and shoulders, and then up and around, draping the head like a hood, and masking the face in shadows, save for a blazing crimson eye that almost glowed as it bored into Velvet, freezing the faunus in place while leaving a grimace on her face.

The sharp edge in figure's hand was not a sword, as Velvet thought for a second, but it was not exactly a paring knife either. Smaller than a machete, but greater than a knife: a gunmetal rectangular slab with the slightest diagonal angle to indicate a tip. One end provided its brute single cutting edge, while the other end transformed into rubber molded grip, tipped with an unusually large ring for a pommel, while all along the handle, the hint of switches and triggers could be made out, easily reachable by the thumb, index, and middle finger. Odder yet were the four red discs that were set inside the wide flat of the knife, crimson like the gleaming stare of its owner, and she had no clue what those were for.

All in all, whatever it was in the figure's hand, it could be considered an adequate hunting knife for a bit of outdoor backpacking in the same way one could consider an armored personnel carrier adequate for a Sunday drive.

This was what Velvet's rational mind was deciding when she saw and described the hooded, ghoulish thing presenting itself in the very confined spaces of taxi. When the facts were taken into account, Velvet's irrational mind quickly came to the most sensible conclusion anyone could make at the time.

_Oh god, there's an axe murderer driving this taxi._

"Oh. Hello."

Velvet narrowly avoided hyperventilating when she heard a quiet girl's voice emanate from somewhere inside the shadow of the hood. Whatever happened next, Velvet wasn't sure, but suddenly she wasn't quite looking at the world's most demonic eyeball, vanished somewhere and replaced with a half obscured face, expression placid and red eye dully looking at the faunus.

"Um, I'm looking for a cheap hotel, do you know any you can drive me to…?" Velvet weakly began. The girl shrugged, leather jacket scrunching at the shoulders.

"Hmmm… Not really. Sorry."

With that, the girl slunk back under the dashboard, and continued doing whatever she was doing, completely ignoring the rabbit eared girl. Velvet sat there for a second, stunned and confused by both the presence of the girl driver and the blatant refusal of service (well, at least she's honest about it). It was when she heard the sound of cracking plastic, that Velvet turned to confusion and hesitantly edged her face over the top of the driver's seat.

The girl had pulled herself under the steering column and managed to get herself wedged between the pedals. The shell of the column had been torn apart, doubtless with aid of the knife in the girl's hand, and colored wires spilled like angel hair onto her face, while she wordlessly struggled with the leads, stripping and cutting in some attempt to do… well, Velvet really had to ask to figure out what.

"Um… what are you doing?"

"Hotwiring this car. I can't find the keys," The girl murmured off hand, while her own were getting increasingly tangled in the disarray.

"I don't think that's the right way to do it," Velvet hesitantly offered. She wasn't in the business of giving advice, since most wouldn't listen, but where heavy metal was concerned, she couldn't help but judge the seemingly uneducated flailing around the taxi driver was performing with the electrical wiring she was drowning in.

"Besides, should you even be doing that? Isn't the taxi company property? Can't you just ask to get the keys replaced?"

The scarf bound girl looked up at the rabbit for a second, before shrugging again, and taking a knife to another bundle.

"I guess. But it's not my taxi, anyways."

Velvet's eyes widened, and the gears in her mind began to process the new statement. The car didn't belong to the girl, yet she was underneath, hot wiring it to get it to start-

"Wait a minute, are you trying to _steal _this car!?" The rabbit spluttered in disbelief.

The girl looked back, "It's… an emergency?"

"You can't do that!" Velvet hissed, slapping the seat in front of her, "That's _illegal!_"

"Oh," The newly christened carjacker turned her head to the side, considering that, "…Well, you can leave if this makes you uncomfortable."

"That's not the…! Of course I'm not going to leave in the middle of a crime! Y-you get out from under there, right now!"

Against all common sense, the carjacker did listen, and slowly slid out from under the steering wheel to sit back up and look at Velvet.

"Can I help you?"

The rabbit choked, and she wondered if she could feel her ears shooting up straight in sheer indignation. Was this some sort of joke!? Reaching forward, Velvet wrapped one of her slim hands around the one holding the knife, keeping it in place.

"You can help me by stopping this! I won't let you go through with this!"

"…Are you a police officer?" The girl asked again, in that ridiculously ignorant tone.

"Well, no… But that's no excuse! If I can do something, I will, and that means stopping you!"

There would have been an epic contest of wills of the two girls staring each other down, except the carjacker took one look over Velvet's shoulder, widened her eyes, and changed her tune. The faunus could only take a second to gasp in shock before the carjacker's other hand reached over and grabbed a handful of Velvet's jacket lapel, and in one seamless motion, drag her over the chair and into the two front seats.

"Hey! What are you-"

Velvet was thrown flat, back crushed against the hooded carjacker, who clapped a hand over her mouth, while her legs twisted around the traveler's body to trap her in place while they both lay down across the front seats. Velvet wasn't exactly sure what to make all this besides the fact this was far too close for comfort with a criminal who was now trapping her in place and keeping her mouth shut.

"Quiet," the girl murmured.

Velvet took this as her cue to squeal behind the hand over her mouth, and thrash and try to struggle her way out of the gray-white thief, whose arms and legs made no sign of any less stiff an iron like trap on the rabbit. Instead, the girl added a little garnish of sliding the back of her broad knife against the soft meat of Velvet's neck, the cold of the steel seeping into the skin.

"**Quiet.**"

Velvet went limp.

Not a moment after, the Beacon hopeful saw a running man come to a halt outside their car, dressed in a loud and cheap suit, sunglasses over his face, as he sneered his sight around, cursing.

"Damn! Where did that backwater runt go!?"

Even the rabbit didn't need to be told that she was looking at a grade-A thug.

With more than a little luck, the man in the suit didn't seem to consider looking inside the taxi, and walked on, cursing.

The interior of the car was filled with a palpable, tense silence, as Velvet lay in the embrace of the thief.

"Before I let you go, I need to tell you that I'm being chased by that man and several more. That's why I've been trying to steal this car. I'm going to let go of you now. Will you be calm?"

Velvet nodded, uneasily. As the hand loosened, and the faunus slowly disentangled herself from her momentary captor, making sure to remain below the height of the car dashboard. The other girl made tentative peeks over head, making sure that the thug kept walking way from them.

All this only made Velvet want to ask, "Who are you?"

"I'll tell you later," The girl murmured, beginning to sink back under the steering column, "It's dangerous for both of us to be here. I need to get this car hotwired now."

"Come on," Velvet whined, "What's going on? Why was that man-"

Velvet at that moment peered over the side of the dashboard to keep an eye on the suspicious man.

She instead saw him, down the street, looking right back at her through the windshield.

The rabbit eeped, shrunk back, and turned her head quickly to the other occupant, "He saw me-"

Velvet froze up again, and the hooded girl blinked in a moment of confusion before she saw a shadow loom through the driver side window, right before the glass shattered loudly, matching the pitch with the faunus' cry of horror.

Two thick arms plunged through the new opening an wrapped themselves around the head and neck of the carjacker, and began to drag her out through the smashed window.

"You thought you could run from us!?" Someone outside was snarling.

The girl choked, struggled, and kicked for any foothold while being pulled out of the car. Velvet in that instant was running on pure instinct and adrenaline. Where was no real logic behind her thinking, but nonetheless it rung true. At the very moment, she and her strange companion had become allies against whatever was outside this car. If Velvet kept sitting there, if she let the thief get pulled out, she'd be left alone against these brutish men-

The faunus was upon the thief in an instant, hands grabbing as much of the leather jacket she was wearing as possible, and pulled with all her strength. It wasn't much, but it was enough to hold the abduction in place, the sudden halt jarring the headlock around the thief. She jerked forward, loosening herself, along with the scarf that was pulled back from the top of her head in the same motion. From under the hood, silver waves of hair sprang loose, an overcast cloud dripping down the sides of her face in long bangs, framing those blood red eyes.

There was an infinitesimal moment where Velvet saw her criminal and sudden ally gain a human identity. Even with the voice, only now did she realize the silver headed girl couldn't be older than Velvet herself, with such a soft, placid expression that wouldn't have been out of place on a doll.

That image, however was quashed by reality, when the thief twisted halfway, slamming one of her elbows repeatedly into the body behind her with meaty thuds.

The owner of the burly arms cried out in pain, and on reflex, started reaching inside his jacket to pull out a hand gun, intent on simply shooting his problem. The only problem, however, was that how the gun was being waved about, the muzzle was pointed towards the half of the car Velvet was seated in. 'Eep'ing loudly, Velvet threw her hands around the wrist of the gunman, wrenching it upward, or at the very least, in a direction pointed away from her head.

There was a sound of thunder, and the faunus could feel her head vibrate from the shockwave of a gun going off above it, shards of plastic raining down from above as a bullet put a hole in the roof. The carjacker, meanwhile, narrowed her eyes at the gunshot, and without further wasted movement, quickly wrapped her arms around the outstretched gun wielding limb of the kidnapper. With violent strength, she pulled herself and the arm forward as hard as she could, sending the thug outside slamming head first into the edge of the car roof. The arm inside the car immediately went limp and slid away, gun dangling free to drop somewhere inside the car, while the rest of the body outside crashed to the sidewalk.

"Are you alright?" The carjacker looked at Velvet and asked while rubbing her neck.

The faunus "I-I think… I don't think I got shot-"

There was a whistling noise followed by a hole puncturing the windshield of the car, a white flower of fractured glass blossoming around the hole as it sent little shards of glass inside. Velvet yelped and ducked back under the dashboard with her ally, as several more bullets whizzed through, poking a line of holes that clouded up the windshield with cracked lines. Down the street, the man in the suit had freed a gun of his own and was firing at the car slowly, in controlled intervals, letting himself pace forwards, while the taxi's occupants were ducking for cover, more glass flying over their heads as the windshield crumpled more and more under the bullets.

The silver haired girl was back to struggling with the cables, knife at work stripping their coverings and tying random ends together with no luck.

"Stop that! Do you even know what you're doing!?" Velvet shouted, over the sound of cracking glass.

"Hot wiring the car," the car thief said, while continuing to fail at it.

"You're just cutting wires! Give me the knife! _I'll_ do it!"

The thief blinked, before dumbly offering the weapon, which Velvet snatched before throwing herself at the same pile, and immediately identified the ignition and battery cables. Most would be quick to blame Velvet's foreknowledge on a certain predilection faunus had to a life of crime and chaos, but the fact of the matter was that rabbit simply did read a lot of car magazines and a few battered manuals in the past. Some of the knowledge had to combine and collect at some point.

In an instant, the right wires were struck against each other enough times, each time eliciting a groan from the taxi's hood, before one good spark finally caused the engine to roar to life.

"Move. I can drive," The thief suddenly ordered, and Velvet obligingly shoved herself out of the way so that the girl's miniscule frame could jump in the driver's seat properly, hand shifting the manual transmission attached to the steering column, and shoeless feet slamming into the gas pedal. The taxi gave an angry squeal and pulled out of the curb, driving into the street where the gunman continued to fire on the car, bullets tearing into the soft metal hood. Teeth were gritted and heads were held low, Velvet completely ducked down, while her compatriot kept her eyes just barely above the dashboard.

The car sped on at the gunman, who was forced to throw himself out of the way. He scrambled to his feet as fast as possible, training his gun again, only to find his target peeling around a corner and into the distance.

He swore to himself and turned back to the larger thug, a bull of a man in a black suit, who was sitting up and rubbing his temple gingerly while wincing.

"You let them get away?"

The gunman shivered at the new voice, as a third man hobbled out of an alley, frowning. The sharp noise of a cane striking the pavement was followed by the similar tune of a peg leg, nearly concealed by well tailored pants and coat.

"B-boss… she's really tough…" The bullish man tried to explain, before the full weight of the cane pressed down into his leg, forcing him to bite back a groan.

"I don't want excuses!" The third man snarled, before turning his gaze to the other thug, who felt himself begin to instinctively curl up protectively, "And you! Did you just try to shoot at the HVT? Do you understand what the definition of 'live capture' is? Or did you think we'll get paid for delivering a bodybag!?"

"H-hey, boss, I wasn't purposely aiming at her…"

The man with the can snorted, "So you not only could you have ventilated our golden goose, you would have done it on accident because you were wasting the bullets I paid for! Good god! Between you two, I don't know who's more retarded in this detail! Next time you shoot something, use a rifle, because I want to see things solved in one shot!"

"Yessir…" The gunman mumbled, "So, uh… what now?"

"Go back to the ship and cool your heels. The little lady's not going anywhere with half a taxi. Go and warm up the Bandersnatch, too. We're bringing it along."

The gunman blinked, "You sure, boss? The big guy for just this?"

"Yes, just this! I'm running short on time and patience. I'm going to tie up all the loose ends tonight, so don't question me!"

"Right, boss", the thug answered obediently, before recalling an extra detail, "There was some other girl with her, too, boss. Some rabbit faunus."

"Who gives a crap about some petting zoo freak? Catch her, kill her, just deal with her if she gets in the way. There's enough faunus in the world anyways. We sell them by the dozen overseas as is. But I. Want. _Mithril_!"

* * *

A public park was painted in the dying light of Vale's afternoon, golden rays and red skies letting great trees paint long shadows. Even with the departing day, many people still flitted through the park pathways, trying to stretch out as much day as possible before it merged with the balmy, pleasant evening. Children continued to run and play, or clamor around an ice cream truck parked outside, selling cold sweets, while their parents watched over them. Lovers and couples meandered under the trees and grass, waxing poetic about the gold of the sky being metaphorical for their significant's complexion, and some particularly stubborn elders kept playing their board games or enjoyed life around them.

When it was relevant, more than a few passer bys noticed a taxi parked nearby, peppered full of holes, possibly an unlucky run in with several small stones. Bullet sized stones. But definitely not bullets. No way, no one would use a gun here. Vale was a _civilized_ city.

Nearby, a rabbit faunus dressed in a nondescript but rugged dress sat on a bench, leaned over with her face pressing down into her palms in complete despair. Whatever audience there was, they quickly moved on, quickly deciding that she was doubtless the rapscallion responsible for the car's damage. The guilty expression was damning proof. She had probably been caught by the driver and was being forced to sit until the proper authorities arrived to give her what for. Naturally.

"Uuuggghh…" The faunus groaned into her hands, "Why is this happening… I stole a car…! I stole a car because the thief wasn't good enough…! People shot at me…! I had a scholarship…! I stole a car…! Angelica's going die if she hears this… and kill me. Uuuugggh…"

"I'm back," A soft voice cut in.

Velvet Scarlatina raised her head above her bout of self pity, so she could direct her narrow eyed ire at the source of her trouble. The girl stood there, scarf loose around her neck so her silver head was exposed, red wine eyes staring back. In either hand was a cone of soft serve ice cream. Standing up, she was perhaps only a few inches shorter than Velvet. The great knife she had been carrying was now sheathed in a cover that hung behind her on her waist, with only the grip visible, jutting out from behind to the right.

"I bought one for each of us. It might make you feel better," The failed car thief said to the successful one.

"Ice cream…? Do you think ice cream is going to help me!?" Velvet whined, "We were shot at, and I just committed a crime the first time I left home, and you think I'll feel better with some snack!?"

The girl appeared to think about this for a second, "…You should have the chocolate one. I like vanilla, anyways."

"Y-You…! You just… how can…!" Velvet spluttered for several seconds, before dropping her head in utter defeat, before stretching her arm out, "Just give it."

Several minutes later, the two very strange girls sat side by side on the park bench, licking and biting into their scoops of ice cream, enjoying the awkward silence as if this were just another day, while staring at their perforated handiwork. Velvet was resigned to admit it, but the cool snack did have a certain calming effect on her otherwise bedraggled state.

Finally, Velvet took one look at her companion. Her mind brimmed with questions, but with many related to how she nearly had her face blown off, something she didn't feel like approaching yet, her brain finally latched onto the most innocuous, pointless question, "How come you don't have shoes?"

The girl looked down at her feet. They were covered in weather darkened wrappings that went from shin to arch, leaving little toes poking out, and a heel digging into the ground.

She shrugged, nonchalant, "I do lots of outdoor work. I like to know exactly what's under my feet."

"'Outdoors'…" Velvet muttered to herself, before a sense of anxiety welled up in her. Perhaps it was the stress of the events not too long back that finally caused her to blurt out the pertinent questions at hand, "Outdoors where? Where are you from? Who are you? Why were we being _shot at_!?"

The girl looked back, before deflating slightly, before taking another bite at her cone, "I don't know if you'll believe me."

"Just tell me _something._"

The girl nodded, "Okay." She put a finger to her chin for a second, figuring out what would be a good start, "I'm… a huntress."

Velvet took a long moment to stare at her companion with slowly widening eyes, as her perception reorganized itself.

"…But you tried to steal a car!"

The carjacker-huntress returned a very droll stare, "It was an _emergency,_" she repeated, with a certain slowly enunciated emphasis.

Under the gaze, Velvet felt her ears droop, and suddenly felt very apologetic. Yes, it had been very much a matter of life and death. Besides, there was no doubt about the girl's skill, the way she fended off that thug earlier…

"Sorry… you're really a huntress?" Somehow, that brought a hint of excitement to Velvet's voice, "What is hunting like? Is it dangerous?"

"Sometimes. There's no big monster where I work. I just keep the forests clean from rovers."

"Where?"

The girl didn't immediately response to Velvet's question, as she gazed into the distance. After a minute, she answered, almost hesitantly.

"…St. Elmo. It's a small fishing village on the east side of Vytal. It's quiet there."

"So hunters even work there…"

"I lived there. I did other jobs between hunting. Working with the boats or in the shops. I liked helping."

Velvet couldn't help but pick up the past tense. There was a hint of something worn out in the girl's otherwise calm voice, like a small cog that had broken and squealed against the rest of the machinery of life, forcing itself to keep working at the behest of every other part, without rest or replacement.

"Did something happen?" The rabbit asked hesitantly.

The girl nodded again, "Those men. They came one day, and asked me to come with them. They were polite at first, they tried to tempt me. I kept saying no, then they brought out their guns and their true nature. St. Elmo helped me escape, and I've been running across the continent, and they've chased me even here."

"Who are they? Why do they want you so badly?"

"Smugglers. Traffickers," The silver girl muttered darkly, "I'm… valuable to certain people. Very valuable. That's all I can say."

"If they're criminals, can't shouldn't we go to the police?"

"I've… tried before. I don't know how, but the smugglers seem to have connections."

It was barely enough for a proper explanation as it was, in Velvet's opinion. The whole thing was so fantastic the faunus would have been quick to accuse the thief of spinning a tale out of whole cloth. A tale of a fugitive running from a gang of smugglers! Wouldn't that certainly give anyone free reign to do anything they pleased! But she had seen things for herself, and had been in a very real danger where what they did was nothing but necessary. Velvet was running with the fugitive now, and she had been pulled along with the story.

"Then, what are you going to do now?" Velvet asked.

"I need to avoid them for one more day. Tomorrow, there's an air shuttle going to a Hunter headquarters. I'll be safe there."

Velvet's eyebrows furrowed at that generalized explanation, while her own clues started filling in the specifics, "You're talking about the shuttle to Beacon tomorrow."

The huntress turned with a rather wide eyed gaze of surprise, "You know?"

"Well, it's… sort of why I'm in Vale, too," Velvet said, self consciously twisting a lock of hair by her head.

"You're training to be a huntress?"

"Heh, I'm not sure myself," the faunus laughed, "I'm only here because it's the best choice I have. I don't really look the part for the great warrior type, right?"

"…Not really," The silver girl admitted, "So, I dragged another student into my problems. I'm sorry."

"No, it's alright," Velvet said, shaking her head, "I got into the car on my own. I can't change the fact that those men might be after me too, now, and I'm not going to think I can leave now and act like I'm uninvolved. I just hope we can survive until tomorrow."

"Hm. You have a hunter's bravery."

Velvet choked on the compliment, and turned back to finish her ice cream, face burning. Because of that, she didn't quite catch the ends of the girl's lips curling for a second. The moment ended quickly though, when she suddenly twisted her head to look for something, paranoia claiming her. The faunus did see that much though, as she watched her ally begin swiveling her head around, searching.

"Is something wrong?"

Then it happened again. Velvet saw the eyes of her companion brighten, red irises transforming into crimson lanterns as she swirled her vision around, owlishly.

"A flaring aura… agitation… preparedness for a fight…" She murmured, before blinking away her concentration to look back at Velvet, "We need to go. They've found us."

"_Already?_"

The huntress had already moved back to the battered taxi, "There's no time to waste, come on."

In moments, the two were burning rubber again, pulling out of the park and into Vale's streets.

The St. Elmo girl was doing well enough, maneuvering their car even with the holes peppering the windshield. As for Velvet, she took a look in the side mirror. They were passing more than a few cars, but out of them, one particular vehicle had expose itself in how it kept pace with the shot taxi, cutting through the same openings in traffic as they did.

"Um, I think that black van is following us."

The huntress took a glance into the rear view mirror and nodded, "Looks like them. I'm going to go faster."

Velvet nodded, listening to the engine thrum louder as the two tried to outpace the heavier van. A fast turn swung them into an empty street, where the stolen taxi was able to really pour on the speed. Even as the van lumbered around the corner, the rabbit and the huntress were already turning into a speck that was gaining ground every second.

Velvet twisted to look back, and a triumphant grin started forming on her face.

"I think we're losing them!"

It was then that the second black van flung itself out of an alleyway in the street, just as the taxi was about to pass it.

The world around Velvet and the huntress whipped and screeched, metal buckling while the two were pushed sideways off the narrow empty road. Velvet could see the barest hint of metal bars approaching from her side, before the window broke, and the taxi was smashed through a pair of metal gates.

There was an eternity of silence as Velvet shook herself to her senses, fighting her way through the sensation of her brain bouncing against her skull to realize that the car was not moving. The rabbit herself she was flattened up against the side of the door, with the small silver huntress flopped dazed across her stomach, thrown from her own end of the car, and they were both covered with yet more glass shards. Velvet groaned, and blearily made out the sight of the black van halted in the open gateway, its front as equally crumpled as the car they were in.

The van made a coughing noise, and began to slowly back out, unblocking the gate.

Velvet hissed, fingers drunkenly seeking out the door handle, "They're coming… hey, they're coming…!"

The huntress mumbled something, as she also regained her senses. Velvet finally found the latch, and threw the car door open, sending her falling back onto the hard ground outside, the smaller silver girl landing atop her with a minute "oof!" Groaning, Velvet looked up to see where they had crashed into. Even with the upside down view, she immediately recognized where they had arrived, and grimaced.

Gates that opened onto a cobblestone path that cut through a wide, gently sloping field. One either side of the path were rows upon rows stone effigies of varying shapes crammed against each other like teeth, each casting a shadow in the sunset, like a sundial on the history of life.

A cemetery was not a nice place to be.

The two girls staggered to their feet, and without even saying any more, began to break into a hurried run away from the car and the van. There was no time to speak, even now they could hear doors sliding open and shoes hitting the ground.

"Nobody shoots except me!" A voice growled from behind, and it encouraged the pursued to run even faster, breaking off the path and diving straight into the maze of tombstones. Heavy footfalls signified the chase was on.

As Velvet and her companion ran, she quickly spotted a copse of trees and brush along the rising slope.

"We can run in there, right!?" Velvet managed to say between breaths and pumping arms. She may have lived healthily, but she never considered herself an athletic: a full on sprint was a rare occurrence for her, and she was doing her best just to keep up with the huntress who was a few steps ahead of her, feet silently padding across the soil without effort.

"We'll lose them, there," Velvet's companion quietly agreed.

At that, Velvet's long ears twitched and picked up a small sound.

_Pop._ _VOOM. _

The surreal addition of that little noise amid the life and death chase made no sense to Velvet, who struggled to place the origin of the noise, right up until she felt her chest tear open, and a jet of something red escaped through a hole in her shirt.

She stumbled to a halt, and looked down.

That was kind of odd, she couldn't recall her shirt getting torn like that beforehand, and all that red…

Wait, that was blood…

…_I've been shot?_

The huntress swirled around and her red eyes bulged in horror.

"…Rabbit!"

Velvet realized something.

_Huh. We didn't even tell each other our names…_

With that, the faunus dropped to her knees, and fell onto her face, and began choking, agony blooming in her chest and back.

She couldn't even scream as she felt herself be hoisted up and carried, too busy at the sensation of acid and magma leaking through her insides. Only faintly she felt leaves brush against her clothes and saw the orange light of the sky dissolving under a heavy canopy. Velvet felt herself lain down amongst dry twigs and dead leaves, and she saw nothing but branches.

"Am I going to die?" She whimpered.

Above her, eyes glowed under a shadowed face, and there was murmuring.

"No fragments… bullet must have passed through… But why did it…"

There was a pause, an air of realization.

"No… how could I… your Aura wasn't awake… and I dragged you along…"

"A…ur…?" Velvet winced, edges of her thoughts becoming hazier.

"…But I can at least it can now save your life."

Velvet watched finger tips settle across her temples and face.

"Keep looking at me. _Keep looking at me_."

The faunus nodded, just slightly, world becoming fuzzy, but the red gaze continued to close in on her, and somewhere, she heard whispering.

"_I throw a light to the sleeping sea: come and be illuminated. Become a salve for my weary body._ **Resonate**."

Something jerked in Velvet's chest.

"_Become a mirror for my dulled senses._ **Resonate.**"

The pain returned in her chest, more heat than anything. Her mind woke again to the pain, and she gritted her teeth, fighting the urge to yell at the foreign sensation.

"_Become a storm of retribution for my empty hands._ **Resonate.**"

The heat burned in her chest, right at the leaking and the shirt's tear.

"_When all my obstacles are conquered, and my dreams fulfilled, become a current and bear my sleeping body home, under the aura of the world. So I pray, resonate and ring true, my_ **soul**."

The pain disappeared, as did the heat. All that was left was deep seated exhaustion in her chest that stretched out through her body, and Velvet couldn't do much besides lie there, listening to her heartbeat, and the faint buzzing of something she realized should have been there all along, if she had just been still and listened for it, as she was only now doing.

The hands and eyes drew back, suddenly, and the silver huntress was there, leaning back, panting, sweat and exertion pouring from her face.

"I wish it could have been less dramatic, but it will heal," The girl grunted, drained. All the same, she turned and peered through the bushes they were hidden in, "You can't move like this, though… and they'll find us…"

"…sorry…" Velvet heard herself mumble.

"I'm the one who did this to you. This was my problem to begin with."

The huntress was resolved, and tugged on the loose lengths of her scarf, pulling it back over her head, masking her face in shadows, again.

"I'll draw them away. I won't let them find you."

Velvet weakly shook her head, "…don't… all alone…"

For a while, the girl sat there, watching Velvet watch her. Then the quietest whisper came through.

"…You're a good person. Go to Beacon for me."

Then she swirled around and crawled away, disappearing through the underbrush, and Velvet could only watch.

* * *

The capacity for being quiet was always a skill the huntress valued.

As she flung herself out of the shrubbery, she made no noise by which she would be heard, and thus provided no profile by which she would have been seen. She landed and rolled along the ground until she flattened herself against a stone proclaiming it one Ebenezer's sleeping place. Her gray leather jacket helped merge her colors with the dull colors of the tombstones around her.

She could feel it, a certain emptiness in her being, a deflation, a lack. Her breath was still too short, and her muscle groups were still too limp. _Not much Aura left. Even to heal that wound, the faunus absorbed nearly all of it like a sponge…_

But it didn't matter. As long as she played it smart, played it carefully, she could do enough with the meager protection the outpouring of her soul could give.

"Anyone see her?"

"Naw, I ain't seen-"

"Shut up, guys! She probably heard you already!"

The silver huntress certainly did. Judging by their foot steps, they were walking up right, inefficiently sweeping their eyes through the graves, and not trying hard enough to see anything ducked below waist height. She had a moment of reprieve to begin scouting.

By a mental command, the eyes under the hood blazed, and the huntress watched the world around her transform. The color of the world became awash in the murkiest of blues, as if she were under water. Nothing but shapes and silhouettes.

She focused, squinting, and the darkness focused and refocused. Amid the shapes, some disappeared, and through them, she could see skeletons walking, arguing with each other, and more in the distance. Weapons hung under their armpits. Their frames glowed at different intensities, sometimes flaring in agitation, but none glowed like she did at her best.

Reaching behind her, she pulled her knife free from its holster. She ran a finger across the scrawl that had been etched into one side to reassure herself:

_Artemisia TYPE-03: –{An Acceleration In The Rhythm Of Celestial Experience: Your Affectionate Uncle, S.T.}-_

She smiled for a second, and then grimly remembered the nature of their parting, and the huntress hoped he was well. At the very least, she promised the weapon they built together would be put to good use.

The skeletons approached, and she pulled her vision back as far as she could, letting the landscape be as should have been, save perhaps submerged, and listened to the men in the cheap suits stalk her down.

One turned into the row she had been crouched in, and it was already too late for him, as she darted forward, slamming her weight into his shins. The man fell, attempting to shout, but she was already upon him, and the flat of her broad knife slammed onto his face, smashing the other end of his cranium into the ground below, stilling him. Without wasting time, she already had ran on.

"I see her!"

"Get her!"

"Nobody shoot!"

There. They were converging on her, charging through the graves, and grabbing for metal rods they carried with them. Electrical charges sparked as they were exposed to the air. But what could they do? They were large, unwieldy thugs, trying to maneuver between the large flat stones.

The huntress leapt upward, ends of her scarf whipping behind her. Wrapped feet touched the top of tombstones lightly, and the girl was off, skipping between them effortlessly, forcing the men to give chase pathetically.

She jumped row after row, until she was unto the first thug, who snarled and swung horizontally at her legs. It was no contest as she was already rolling in the air over his head, the blunt back of Artemisia slamming into the back of his head, bowling him over another tomb. More followed, as she nimbly skipped back and forth, while men swung at her small frame, while their head and shoulders were perfectly aligned at her waist, ready for her to deliver all the downward force as necessary. Knife slamming into a neck, into a nose, a flying kick laying into a jaw and sending another man swirling.

Her luminous red eyes left a jagged trail as she effortlessly beat one man down after another. At some point her murky view of the world expanded further with every jolt of adrenaline fueling her, and her Aura fuelled eyesight pushed her peripheral vision around to the back of her head, letting her back flip over a man swinging down at her from behind, only to slam an electrified baton down into the tombstone she had stood on, followed by his face into the baton, as she brought her feet and her body weight down onto his head.

She looked around, and even with the crowd she had left incapacitated, she still saw another truck's worth of them slowly pacing towards her.

Behind them, stood one man, their leader. The wizened "gentleman" in white long coat and three piece suit, salt and pepper beard supporting his vicious sneer, as he held himself aloft with his black cane, keeping himself balanced in lieu of the steel peg that replaced one of his feet.

_Him_.

The source of the problem, and the source of the thugs' determination.

Her red eyes glared back. She held out Artemisia. The fingers on her other hand looped around the ring pommel, and she pulled. The ring lowered with a loud ratcheting noise, and a long lever was pulled out from inside the handle. With another violent motion, she slammed the ring and lever back into the rest of the knife. In response the first red disc in the blade began to spin and whine, sparks intermittently escaping the edges of the activated gear. Dust hidden inside the weapon began to be used, converting the supposed awesome power of "Nature's Wrath" into the simplest, most efficient one: Mechanical Energy.

It fed downward, through the handle, and into the huntress' hand, and into her body. She welcomed it, that old familiar sensation of power starting to make her bones vibrate with excess force.

Now, it was time to cut through.

The silver girl kicked off the tombstone she had been crouched on, enough kinetic force leaving her for her unfortunate perch to snap off from the ground in the opposite direction, and her feet both barely touched her stone platforms yet at the same time pounded away at them, each step now delivering Artemisia's multiplied force and speed.

The vanguard of the suited brutes choked and shouted something akin to surprise at the blur coming towards them. They brought their batons up and swung wildly the small huntress, who simply swooped past, barreling straight for the crippled man.

_He's just standing there… I can end this…!_

The girl thought this to herself, as she brought her razor edged engine up. All she had to do was beat him down, and they would all take the hint.

This was it…!

Right up until something tall and metal dropped down from the sky right between the girl and her target.

It was only thanks to her eyesight that she even saw the fall at all, or she could have crashed face first into the sudden intrusion. Her eyes were the only reason she could even maneuver with the sheer extra force her body possessed.

The huntress growled, and fingers danced along the switches of Artemisia. In response, the first gear on the knife halted and then changed the direction of the spin, and she could feel all the potential energy she had drain from her and start gathering back into the knife. She swung her knife up over her head and backwards, and the force of it was enough to spin her body in place as the axis of a centrifuge, letting her land her lightened body feet first into the metal object with a dull 'clang'. Instantly, the object started raising appendages above her, and she frantically manipulated Artemisia's gear into spinning forwards again, strength returning to her body in time for her to kick off from the machine right before several something stabbed into the air where she had been.

Flying back, the huntress' fingers caught the edge of another tombstone, and she let herself flip widely to flip and land atop it.

Before her was a great automaton, sleek and bipedal. Its head was shaped like some medieval knight, with a grated face plate showing the glow of camera sensors between the gaps. A great cloak had been draped over it, but as it reared up, it dropped away, revealing arms.

Many, many arms.

Jointed into the equivalent of shoulders, and into the back, the Bandersnatch was ready to attack, with spade shaped blades mated to the back of its many human like hands, while they all articulated and built tension towards an impending strike.

_This was brought out just to catch me?_ She thought to herself, and a certain dread began to fill her.

Behind, the man with the cane smiled even more wickedly.

_But I can't run. They'll use her as a hostage._

There was only one path.

A few deft finger motions added a second disc's revolution to the first, and the girl kicked off again, not as explosively as before, but certainly faster, and the Bandersnatch charged after her, indomitable weight simply crushing its way through the graveyard as the silver child did all she could to keep just out of reach, arms punching and chopping at her. Around her, the smugglers scattered and ran where they could, away from the fight that was coming in their direction.

Her eyes blazed, pushing her perception of the world as far as she could, trying to see every angle of attack, every tombstone around her, and every step of her energy charged foot, almost believing the world was slowing down just to let her see everything she needed to, just to barely avoid the assault.

_Where is the opening? Where is the opportunity?_

It came with the Bandersnatch providing a vicious upper cut with multiple arms, more than a few tearing up the ground underneath the huntress, sending earth and stone slabs flying every which way along with the airborne girl. One particular slab dedicated in the memory of a Mina came her way, and she held Artemisia Type-03 before her, letting the whirring blade stab into the slab, letting it propel her upward through the air.

Up there, her red eyes spied the robot below her, and she aimed.

"Brake Down."

Her hands squeezed one particular trigger, and the gears screeched to a halt. The kinetic energy bouncing around in her swept out in one violent wave, escaping back through the knife, before erupting out the other end, into the grave marker she was riding.

In an instant, Mina's tombstone rocketed off the knife and away from huntress, down towards the Bandersnatch. The heavy granite wedge smashed into the Bandersnatch's armored head, sending it pitching backwards, almost drunkenly.

Right after, a pair of bare feet landed on the swaying robot before leaping off again. The huntress sailed on, towards the leader of the smugglers, ignoring the Bandersnatch, now that she was behind and out of reach of its many arms.

_I haven't forgotten about you!_

There was no one left to save the one that had chased her across Vytal. She raised her blade, prepared to strike.

The Bandersnatch's hand grabbed the back of her head, thick rubber fingers squeezing around her face.

She could feel her eyes widen in shock. Below, the man with the cane soaked in her surprise.

_How did…!?_

The huntress was only spared a second to twist her head back long enough to see the smuggler's robot, with one arm out of all the rest broken into interlocking segments and stretching out like some great rope into the sky to grasp her.

She had to cut loose. She only needed to get the gears in the Artemisia running again, and cut behind her head-

The Bandersnatch swung.

"Gggh-!"

At the end of its hand, a gray blur was tethered, and remain attached as it slammed it into to the ground with enough force to crack the earth. Then hoisted the limp and struggling body up and smashed it into the ground again. Again. Again. Throwing the figure through the tombstones, sending her helpless through the air and into the ground like some abused toy.

Artemisia went flying, twirling through the air to embed itself one of the tombstones still remaining in the chaos. On cue, the Bandersnatch stopped its flailing. The dust settled, showing the battered huntress, coughing blood, while more dripped from her nose and cuts on her face. The Bandersnatch's hand firmly pressed her head into the soil, even as she struggled to raise herself up.

The tapping of a cane and a fake leg approached. Through her hazy vision, she could see a foot stop in front of her, while a gravelly voice chortled.

"Dear me, girlie. You're making the dead turn in their graves!"

"John Silver…" The huntress wheezed, possibly trying to hiss.

"Aw, a cold shoulder?" The one legged man mocked, "No kisses for your uncle John?"

"None… for a wretched… _distant_ relative…"

"Ha! Just as well. No point pretending you're anything but merchandise," the smuggler leader said, "So, why don't you introduce me to your little rabbit friend? Got her stashed away somewhere?"

The huntress grimaced, but remained still.

"That's fine. I'll get my boys to find her soon enough. You two can have a cute little cruise trip together."

The decrepit John Silver turned to the gathering men, grinning, "Come on boys! Let's get the little lady bundled up for her homecoming! The rest of you, start going through the brush and smoke out that rabbit!"

The machine hand holding down the huntress withdrew, letting her begin to lift herself up by her arms weakly, to glare at Silver, hobbling over to withdraw her knife from the stone, taking a moment to examine it idly, while the thugs closed in. Hands grabbed her battered body roughly, squeezing to elicite as much pain as she would wordlessly give, though a sharp wheeze escaped her as the hoisted her up. Carrying the huntress to the closest van, they threw her in and shut the door, and she could only lie, broken in the darkness.

* * *

Velvet Scarlatina lay under the canopy of leaves, bleary and dazed. She had turned her head to the side, and from where she was, a small break in the bushes could be made out, just enough to peer down into the cemetery further down the slope. She could see battlefield that had been torn up, one of the vans leaving, robot following close behind, while the bulk of the henchmen remained.

There was the sound of men kicking through the shrugs, talking loudly and complaining. Her body still refused to move. Though the wound in her chest had closed, it still felt like it was an iron stake pinning her down.

"Goddamnit, the hell are we looking for anyways?" A voice spat.

"You heard, a rabbit faunus, or something. HVT was dragging her along for the ride."

"We saw the boss shoot her! You could fit an air conditioner in her chest after that. What are we doing, looking for a corpse? Even if she did survive, she's probably all bled out by now," The voice groused, followed by the sound of an appendage kicking through the plants.

"Hey, the less loose ends, the less chances our sailing later tonight's gonna screw up. Sooner we're sure, sooner we can find the rest of merchandise and pack it up."

"Tch, who else we gotta visit anyways?"

"Eh, you know. That girl at Seven Bridges Station, the one who's making all those bombs. And there's that psycho hobo at that park."

"We're mailing a _hobo_?" The original voice said in total disbelief.

"I heard the chick's tough shit."

"I can't believe this. Poking around here for some fuzzy ass freak's bad enough, now we also gotta meet some dumpster diver?"

"Look, it's not like we're showing them to a hotel or anything. Just find them, have the Bandersnatch bash 'em up, and then cram 'em in the boat, just like we did before."

"We're bringing the big guy, too!?"

"Boss is really anxious to get this all cleaned up before three, you know that."

"I didn't know we were bringing firepower! Hell man, now I'm looking _forward_ to this! Seeing the Bandersnatch using that little twerp as a ping pong ball was _hilarious_. You see anything yet?"

"Naw, I ain't see anything. She's probably all bled out after this long, like you say."

"Come on, let's get going. What's a faunus gonna do anyways at this point, anyways? Scratch us and cry?"

"Heh, don't jinx yourself. Freak might have rabies."

Loud laughter followed, as the men pushed their way out of the brush, and walked away, idle talk fading with their presence.

Velvet lay there, eyes fluttering, and dreamt.

* * *

_Shapes. Forms. Creation at your finger tips, if only you accept the malleability of the cosmos. The shapes and forms that the world moves along. The calculations and languages that define it. Interlocking and interchanging. Artist. Architect. The shapes are yours. The forms are yours. Use it all. Craft them as you will, as you will yourself. Your power is…_

* * *

Some time later, out from the near darkness of the trees, a rabbit faunus slowly sat up. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but she looked up, and the yellow of the sky was now a deep purple, with a hint of red dye at the edges. The world was darker now. Vale in the distance, was blinking awake, window by yellow window, with the street lamps following after.

Standing up, she dazedly walked back down the hill, past the ruined graves. Her mind was still fuzzy by the terrible sleep she had, the sort where one awakes too tired to think, and too awake to rest.

She came to stop besides the abandoned taxi that still sat there, even when everyone else had departed, with its buckled shell and missing windows. By some dreamlike reflex, the rabbit faunus reached for the hood and forced it up. As the cover relinquished with a loud squeal, she inspected the engine.

Despite the impact, it appeared the machine itself was still serviceable and in one piece, though some of the bolted fastenings at snapped. She slammed it shut, and walked over to the driver's seat, which she dropped herself into, and sat dumbly for the longest time.

Eventually, a thought came to her.

…_They shot me._

_They shot me._

_**They shot me.**_

Velvet Scarlatina had nearly been killed only a few hours ago. Thugs, led by some miserable smuggler, tried to kill her, and beaten and hurt a girl, a complete stranger.

_Lying there in the dirt, choking and struggling, bleeding for her sake, when she didn't have to._

"_I need to avoid them for one more day. Tomorrow, there's an air shuttle going to a Hunter headquarters. I'll be safe there."_

They had failed. They failed because she was weak, she had been hurt for the two of them, and that girl from St. Elmo gave everything for her. Because she had been shot.

_They shot me!_

Velvet was by no means a girl given to anger. At least, that was what she liked to believe of herself, to help assuage the matron who had raised her with all the love she could give. She may have been a faunus, but she was no delinquent, no crook-

"_Why is this happening… I stole a car…! I stole a car because the thief wasn't good enough…!_

-She wasn't violent at all.

But this… to know that she had nearly died…

Something waiting for 17 years had finally begun to loose itself, and Velvet vaguely recalled all the dirty looks she would receive as a child, all the dirty words spoken behind her back in town, for simply being alive.

_Freak. Freak. Freak. Freak. Freakfreakfreakfreak-_

And now they _shot her_, and they were going to get away with it. With her.

_Lying there, injured. All her fault._

"_I don't really look the part for the great warrior type, right?"_

But what could she do? They already had what they wanted. She was just… a skinny little orphan… from the middle of nowhere…

"_Boss is really anxious to get this all cleaned up before three, you know that."_

Where would she even look…

"_Eh, you know. That girl at Seven Bridges Station, the one who's making all those bombs. And there's that psycho hobo at that park."_

Slowly, she turned her gaze to the passenger seat, where all the glass lay across the leather lining. At the bottom, in the foot well, lying amid more glass, was a hand gun. It was the one that was dropped from those pair of large arms earlier in the day. It was still, with its cool chrome frame glistening in the emerging moonlight.

"_Hm. You have a hunter's bravery."_

No. **No.**

Not like this.

A pair of hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, teeth were bared as she ground her teeth, a fine vein of anger filling her.

She had _enough_ of this. She had enough of being a freak, of being a faunus, of being left out, of being _hurt_ and then discarded.

Somewhere out there, a girl had been kidnapped against her will, to have who knows what done with her. Velvet Scarlatina, here, now, was the only one who knew about this. She said she'd see this to the end, that she'd be there for the huntress who saved her life, and awakened that "Aura" to do it, whatever it was. She didn't have much time.

The rabbit faunus reached underneath the steering column, and grabbed for the cut wires, and pressed them against each other, urging the engine to start.

She had a car, a gun, and an address.

**They were not going to get away with this.**


	3. Unusual Suspects: 15 Hours Left

_She started up with a cry, and saw the boy, and somehow she knew at once that he was Peter Pan. If you or I or Wendy had been there we should have seen that he was very like Mrs. Darling's kiss. He was a lovely boy, clad in skeleton leaves and the juices that ooze out of trees but the most entrancing thing about him was that he had all his first teeth. When he saw she was a grown-up, he gnashed the little pearls at her._

* * *

"You decided to rescue her _by yourself?_ From a whole gang of traffickers?"

The disbelief was quite audible.

"It… was the only good idea at the time," Velvet said, pushing an empty plate to the side. The sandwich was enough to keep her stomach quiet.

"You didn't consider going to the police with your information?" The interrogator asked.

"I did. And I realized it wouldn't work."

"You don't trust the men and women who swore to protect its cities and its inhabitants?"

Velvet sighed, and realized the truth, "No. I don't. They wouldn't have believed in the first place."

"You don't know that."

"I'm a _faunus_, sir. If I went up to a police station with that damaged car, they wouldn't listen to me. They'd just arrest me for stealing and damaging the car, and throw me into a cell. Case closed. Who would believe a girl who says that a huntress had been kidnapped after spending an afternoon with her? Even if they did listen, I knew the smugglers would be leaving sometime that very night. The police would waste time doing… paperwork. I'm sorry, but I had no time. I only had one chance to find those men again, and it was at Seven Bridges."

The interrogator flipped through the files, humming to himself.

"Where you met one of your… accomplices. This girl certainly has an interesting record. A noticeable history of causing disturbances, vandalism, and damage to public property, though she denies it. But I doubt she can deny being complicit in sinking a cargo liner this time."

"We had similar circumstances. The smugglers bothered her one too many times, and she decided she wouldn't take any more."

"I can only say that given the circumstances of last night, you were lucky to find the sort of allies you did, including this thrill seeker," the interrogator hummed, and tilted his head, glasses reflecting the shallow light of the room.

"Like I said, we had a common enemy."

"You certainly must have disliked them very much, considering that you set Seven Bridges Station on _fire_."

Velvet could feel her ears droop again at the charge, and she could feel sweat form on her brow, and along her back. It certainly wasn't from the heat of the lamp, this time.

* * *

It had taken some awkward direction asking from the locals, either because she was poking her little rabbit head out of a car that had just emerged from a gunfight, or because she was asking for the location of Seven Bridges Station.

She quickly learned it was located inside the old half of Vale's industrial district. It was the sort of place people thought about twice before casually waltzing in. During the day, it was respectable area, just like any other, with blue collars working along the wide expanse of harbor front, or in the factories. But with Vale's modernizing, the area had continued to decline in use. Like a tide controlled by the moon, after dark, Vale's civility withdrew, and left behind its less reputable elements in the crags of its underused factories and grim faced industrial offices.

Even with the police managing things the best they could, Vale's little dark spot was a true concrete jungle, welcoming only those who were ready to partake of the dangers for its rewards, be it fool hardy partiers seeking out the next warehouse rave, or businessmen playing a coy game to fatten their profit margins.

Velvet drove on into those old streets, keeping an eye out. Despite what she heard, at first glance, the industrial zone still seemed quite tame. Cars still drove through, and it wasn't like there were bands of hooligans at every corner, throwing insults. Still, the buildings showed their time, with their dated store fronts, and the many brick walls that were rounded off with layers and layers of graffiti. Light was not all pervading here like it was in the modern residences. Streets here glowed only on the street level with their economic fluorescent lights, while complexes towered above as shadows on shadows.

Having driven her car slowly and carefully, the rabbit faunus finally arrived at the entrance to Seven Bridges Station, yet another casualty Vale's modern years. The city did have a bustling underground rail system, both for civilian use, as well as a line for transportation of good across the city. But as technology improved, as did the city, some of the train lines became diverted, and the leftover tunnels were either walled up or simply left to be forgotten.

And apparently, someone who dealt with those kidnappers lived here, beyond the station entrance Velvet had parked in front of.

Seven Bridges' entrance was a yawning opening, a long concrete tongue that led downward gently, with a metal sign above proclaiming "Vale Underground". However, whoever was living inside certainly had a possessive streak, and the first three letters of "Vale" had been painted over with loud colors, re-designating the facility for personal use:

**HOMe Underground**

Classy.

Velvet sighed, trying to psyche herself up for the task ahead. She wasn't even sure what was going to happen. Reaching beside her, she picked up the handgun that had been discarded in the car earlier.

She paused, looking at it.

She knew it by model name, the Zamiel Model 489, a highly profitable model that was used by all. It had a unique two stage ignition, with its magazine of bullets pushed forward up, while a battery of Dust was mounted inside the handle. The explosive power of Nature's Wrath was more than enough to propel the bullets beyond the distance the shorter barrel would have normally allowed. It was such a simple thing, a 'gun'. In Remnant, guns and swords came side by side with living at all, with all the monsters that roamed at the boundaries. But Velvet looked on it again with fresh eyes. To "shoot" with the gun, at other people…

Velvet looked down at her chest, and could see her dried blood caked on the shirt. The faunus wanted to be willing to use this weapon of destruction on her enemies, but all she could remember was that stark sensation of the violent injury, the pain, and the pitiful gasps for breath.

Knowing what she had experienced, could she really bring that onto another? It wasn't just a bullet passing through a target. It was pain and suffering, pure and simple, no matter how economical or hands off it seemed.

Velvet stared, but eventually swallowed, and steeled herself. The answer had to be "yes". It wasn't pleasant by any means, but with the situation as is, she had to fight back, with whatever options there were.

If only it didn't have to involve bullets…

Velvet stepped out, into the cooling night air. Above her, the sky was pure night, save for the shattered moon. She awkwardly crammed the gun into the pocket of her jacket, the entire pistol grip poking out loudly. With the lack of holster, this was the only option left. The rabbit only hoped that the safety on the gun wouldn't be switched off with all the jarring it would receive, and that the inhabitant of Seven Bridges wouldn't see the naked gun as hostile intent.

With all the bravery the girl could muster, she walked down the gray tongue into the depths. The gentle slope eventually turned into a short hallway with disused turnstiles, that led to a set of stairs that went down sharply.

When Velvet had arrived at the bottom of the stairs, she was rather taken aback. What she had expected was perhaps, some dim gray tunnel with a platform to the side, and somehow, living space was crammed in. But this…

This…

It was a train yard. Or something like it. It was a large underground chamber, with four train tracks beginning their journey here as they plunged into tunnels on either side of the room. Subway cars sat on each track at different distances. Some were parked right up against the buffer stops, while others were entrenched inside the tunnel entrances, blocking them up. Disused control rooms sat inside the remaining sides of the station, while a massive display board hung from the ceiling, with a enclosed booth sitting underneath.

This was Seven Bridges Station as it was. Then there were the personal touches that were added to create Home Underground. Furniture had been poured into the room. A bed, a desk, and all other living necessities were present, but beyond that, more oddities were included. Thick electrical conduits were strewn around the room, providing electricity to everything in sight, including innumerable lamp lights firing their bright beams every which way. Long tables were drawn up in no particular order; their only use was to prop up the countless strange machines, computers, and piles of papers scattered across them, some humming, some fizzing, and some rattling with use. Echoing through the room was the bass line of popular hip hop music, songs slamming against the concrete, while a rapper's deep voice snarled out insults and dreams of grandeur. Sitting in the corner of the subway station was…

_Is that a __**bank vault**__!?_

Velvet rubbed her eyes incredulously, and confirmed that yes, a whole bank vault had somehow managed to be situated in the Home Underground, a steel crate lying around like someone's cabinet set, with its wide steel door swung open haphazardly, while more thick electrical cables spilled out from its interior.

This was the strange world Velvet had walked into. As she uneasily walked between the tables, no sight of the subway's inhabitant could be seen. Eventually, try as she might, she could not hold back her curiosity, and her gaze idly jumped between all the frenetic little tools that sat on every table.

Canisters of molten gold liquid, set half orderly, with more than a few haphazardly lying around. Velvet read the labels.

**Dust Compound 82D, "Xanthus" , AKA, "Fairy Dust".**

On another table, a fabric of some kind had been stretched between a frame, with a plastic reflective sheen and a hexagonal honeycomb pattern adorning its surface. A strong lamp was next to it, shining directly onto the material. Velvet looked on the otherside, seeing small cables connected to the underside that fed into a small light bulb that was also glowing. So a lamp was used to power another lamp, like some child's experiment. Another placard lay beside it.

**Light absorbing material prototype 3 (+4% efficacy, waterproofing capable, implement to Fairy Operating Xylem? Remember to test.)**

Further on, the next exhibit was a glass jar containing more of the so called Xanthus Dust, with some sort of pipe attached to it. Starting from being immersed in the liquefied Dust, it carried on until it connected to another mechanism. At the bottom, three brass colored cylindrical knobs, looking not unlike like thimbles, sat around a circular lens, and spun, while a similar set up sat upside down. Yellow lightning jumped between the two at a continued tempo.

Velvet watched, engrossed at the result. With each spark, a momentary flash of an animated shape appeared, burning into the viewer's iris. Like a series of photographs, the three dimensional silhouette of a butterfly brought its wings up and down, flapping in still life.

The signage on this one was more long winded.

**Hybridizing Fairy Dust with light waves: Still in progress. Hardlight still needs work. (To do: Shapes cannot sustain independent between emitters, colors not changeable, need to manipulate wavelengths.)**

**Warning: Current hardlight highly volatile: DO NOT TOUCH (This goes double for you, Phthalo, you dork! I don't care how drunk you get, I'm not digging your face out of the train car AGAIN!)**

Besides the loud warning and the brilliant display of light, sheets were stacked, and Velvet caught stray sentences atop one.

_Dear Madam,_

_While we at Schnee Dust Developmental maintain interest in your Dust variation, 82D, AKA Xanthus, AKA Fairy Dust, we do not find sufficient basis to provide further funding to the research into a hypothetical "solid state light wave form"…_

The rabbit faunus surveyed this wonderland, and wondered. When she had overheard the smugglers talk about a girl who was making bombs, she had faint images of some angry little anarchist, piling up little steel balls with fuses hanging off them deep underground. But this place was like some out of control science fair.

So where were the bombs?

More importantly, where was the bomb maker?

Velvet followed the experiments, seeing everything from chemistry equations scribbled out on sheet paper to strange half completed harnesses, fitted with so many more cables before abandoned.

As she squeezed between two more contraptions, Velvet found the target of her quest. Against one wall of the station, almost out of sight thanks to one of the trains was a large project of some sort. It was a nightmarish combination of fiber optics and scaffolding that rose several layers, growing like some crazed plant. Suspended on the outside of the contraption was a girl. In time with the booming hip hop, the girl bobbed her head and sung along while swinging herself across the network of cables. She was wearing a harness, with ropes that hung from the ceiling, but seeing anymore was next to impossible when she held a plate iron mask to her face and a welding torch to a section of the cables she was bothering over, bathing her image with bright white sparks. Velvet had to look away to avoid being blinded by the display.

Instead, she started calling loudly, "Excuse me…?"

Alright, so the "loudly" part needed a slight warm up.

"_Hotter than the sun, feel my fiaaah! Pyromaniac, my desiaaaah!_"

"Excuse me, miss!"

"_Strike 'em quick, lightning fast! Melt 'em biznatches down to asssh!"_

Velvet finally warmed up her lungs, "Hey! You up there! I need to talk to you!"

The welding torch sputtered to a halt. The suspended girl above then wedged the toes of her boots into the scaffolding and leaned backwards as far as she could, looking down and upside down at her addresser. There was a momentary visage of surprise, before it quickly melted into sheer mirth.

"Oh, a new face? Coming down, darling!" She chirruped, voice like a door jamb oiled with melted sugar.

The girl righted herself, jammed her working tools into another wedge somewhere in that confused mess (something Velvet found more than slightly unsafe), and kicked off it and into the air. The harness suspension stretched as the rapper sailed and descended rapidly towards the rabbit faunus and the ground. Near the bottom, the harness drew taut, holding the girl's horizontal body only a few inches above the ground for a second before it began pulling her back up. The girl, slapped a latch at the last second, causing the harness split and fly off her body while it snapped up into the air. She, however, was lifted several feet by momentum, and flipped in place to land on her feet.

Velvet watched the girl turn around. She looked older than the faunus, perhaps by a year or two, with the half a head she had on her to prove it. She was dressed in a black tank top, and pair of thick shorts with mismatched leg lengths and digital forest green camouflage patterning. It showed off her lithe frame, with its healthy tan and tight cords of muscle poking faintly under the skin. Red-brown hair was cut short and clung to the girl's skull, as she looked at the faunus with dark blue eyes, the color of late evening.

"Oh, you got _rabbit ears!_ Oh my god, that's so cute!"

Before Velvet could even speak, the girl had all but latched onto her, a cheek nuzzling the top of her head, while sweat stained hands rubbed her chin and her cheek with gross affection.

"_Yosh, yosh, yosh…_Oh, I'd go diabetic for you, widdle bun-bun. So what brings you here, darling? Need a dinner? Need a bath? Or perhaps… _me…?_"

The girl's tone suddenly changed at that last word, into something ridiculously breathy and sensual, and Velvet felt a finger trace one of her ears gently.

That spike of electricity going up her spine was certainly because of her fight-flight response activating, and the rabbit all but leapt out of the other girl's grasp, and a few feet forwards, away from her.

"What's with you!?" Velvet shrieked, swiveling around, arms wrapped across her chest protectively.

"Think of it like a really, really, really, roundabout compliment," The girl grinned, with a jaunt of her hip while lifting both her hands to point her fingers at the Beacon hopeful.

Velvet fought back a groan, and tried to focus, "Are you the one who created all these things?"

"Am I!? Well isn't that totally obvious…" The girl began, before pausing, "…Because I totally forgot to do this."

Swirling around, she stamped her foot on a switch on the floor, causing molten light to begin flowing through the network of tubes behind them.

"I made this whole thing to see how Fairy Dust would function when being sourced to multiple channels!" The flirtatious girl explained on her own, "Well, convinced by my brilliance? You can rent out some of my smaller gags if you got a rave going! You need a lightshow for a party? I can program sequences, too! I'll give you a discount rate, all you have to do is be my pillow for one night!"

"That's not funny."

"Oh, I couldn't make light of a gorgeous dish like you."

Velvet's face caught fire. These were the flimsiest of flatteries, and she hated that she was letting it affect her so easily. Was she that gullible, or was she just so pitiful that she'd value these cheap pick ups as the first time in years anyone ever told her she was pretty? Trying to push past the heat in her ears, she forced herself to keep talking, or at least try to, "You use Nature's Wrath… for _party decorations._"

"Oh, it's just a little something to spread the word and pay the bills! It's not like I focus on that as my calling, though I admit it's fun! But, you know, people like to go 'ooh, pretty shapes'."

"So you're saying you're in it for the chemistry itself."

Dust chemistry, chemistry with Dust, whatever you called it. As long as the fantastic power could be reproduced and controlled, the scientific process did its thing to try and eke out more of its potential uses, by stressing Dust, combining Dust, testing Dust, and generally using Dust, until something new could be released into the wide world, and most likely sold by the Schnee.

This madcap girl claimed that in spite of everything, her interest was in the substance behind the style. But somehow, Velvet didn't find that idea so implausible. Home Underground was an eclectic gallery, but one filled with the frenetic air of experimentation.

"Ah, mine darling can see the method to the madness…!" The strange flirt laughed, rubbing her nose, "Yep, fully certified to play around with strange glowing things. I'm even insured against blowing myself up!"

Blowing herself up. Velvet almost wanted to hit herself for how blind she was. Wasn't Dust's earliest uses for the sake of warfare? Fire, water, and lightning... how potent was this yellow substance compared to the rest?

"…Have you ever been asked to use your Dust to make bombs?"

At that, the chemist's playful grin drooped into a deeply interrogative frown. Velvet backed up a step from the force of the change, irrationally feeling sorry.

Hand framing her jaw, the redhead leaned forward to stare hard at the Beacon applicant, "How'd you know about that? Hey, waaaait a minute… did those nasty smugglers send you?"

Velvet's head jerked back, as if physically affected by that accusation, "Never! I'd never work for them!"

She received another finger jabbed at her for her trouble.

"Ah ha! Instant denial instead of confusion! I've got your number, succubus! Ha, if they think they can bribe me via copious amounts of nubile young maidens to seduce my tender virgin soul, they've got another thing coming!"

The rabbit groaned, feeling this was a regular train of thought this girl had, "What about you? Are you telling me that you make bombs for criminals? You're as bad as they are, then!"

"Tch, it's not like that!" The chemist petulantly retorted, hands on her hips, "Look, I don't know where you came from, but what I do down here isn't exactly cheap!"

She walked on, past the tables, and Velvet followed her ranting.

"When I discovered this Dust… when I discovered what I could do when it interacts with light...! But I don't have the equipment to really push what hardlight can do! Everything here is just retreading old ground. The institutes won't take my work seriously. I can't afford further research even with the money I make. So yes, out here, if a few shifty fellows dropped by saying they would cover the costs if only I listen to a few of their 'suggestions', it's an investment like anything else!"

"And has it worked out for you?" Velvet blandly asked, clearly unconvinced. The chemist rolled her eyes and whined loudly.

"Don't ask me _that_. The philistines have no appreciation for possibilities! I've tried to send them off with some of my flashier tricks, but every time, all they ever say is, 'make bombs!', 'make bombs!' Pah! A scientific breakthrough is at hand, and all they want is brute force!"

"Dust is still a weapon, and you're the only one at street level who can supply them," Velvet answered. Perhaps the situation was not as clear cut as she imagined. This girl wasn't entirely pleasant by any means, but it seemed her self absorbed standards were still on a level above the kidnappers. Then there was still a chance…

"So you're not with the smugglers, but you know them, and you came all the way down here, so what _do_ you want?" The redhead asked.

Velvet steeled herself, "I need your help tracking those smugglers down."

"You're _looking_ for them?" The girl asked, perplexed, "You think they suck, and now you're looking for them?"

"They kidnapped… they kidnapped a girl I know. I have to save her."

The girl stared at her for several seconds, before her eyes widened in shock, dots finally connecting.

"Wait a minute, they sell _people_!?"

"Of course!" Velvet said, practically exploding with indignation, "They're buying bombs off of you, you think kidnapping people is somehow below them!?"

"They said they were smugglers! You know, I thought they just sneaked watches and video games and stuff!" The girl said, defending herself with hands raised, "Sure, they're jerks, but I thought it was… uh… the relatively nicer sort of illegal activity. How can you prove this, anyways?"

This was the opening she had been waiting for, Velvet realized. This is where the information she had became her bargaining chip.

"Ask them yourself. They'll be coming here sometime tonight. Perhaps soon. I overhead them, and they're getting fed up with their deals with you. They'll arrive with a combat automata and they'll take everything here."

The chemist, as all scientists should, put a finger to her cheek and observed Velvet for any signs of incongruity, "That's an interesting story."

"**Oi! Anyone in here!?"**

A hoarse male voice echoed from the stairwell entrance above, causing the two girls to turn towards the source. They were hidden behind one of the trains, out of sight, and were only able to look in the general direction, where the echoes of footfalls were approaching.

The chemist turned towards Velvet, "Alright, then, I'll ask."

Turning towards the subway car, the chemist grabbed one of the doors and pulled it open, before jerking her head towards it.

"You better hide, darling. Wouldn't want an outside source to contaminate the test."

Nodding, the faunus spared no time clambering in, and the doors slid shut behind her. Cautiously sidling up next to a window, Velvet watched her walk away, and towards a group of men that approached from between the tables of experiments she herself had come by.

Preceding them was a mountain of a man in another cheap black suit, with tanned skin and a wild mess of brown hair.

Velvet recalled a very similar pair of burly arms that tried to pull a girl through the window of a car, and unconsciously bared her teeth.

"Brownie, darling!" The chemist's voice chirruped, and Velvet saw her wave at the man, practically skipping over, "Here to pick up my wares again, boyos?"

"Don't 'brownie' me, kid," The suited mountain snorted, "I ain't here for games."

"Aw, but you really do give the impression of a great big bear, you big hunk of cuddly manliness! What brings you dudes over here tonight?"

"Same reason as ever. Tell us you actually have some weapons worth using this time."

The girl, even though she was comparatively dwarfed by the men, sighed loudly, throwing her arms above her head dramatically, "Always with the bombs! I've said it again and again, I did not bring Fairy Dust into the world just to do more of the same with it! I need to explore possibilities! Push the boundaries! And you people expect me to be pleased by being ordered to make… molotovs!"

This rant seemed to have been one too many for Brownie, who was immediately in the chemist's face, jabbing one of his thick fingers into her chest.

"Listen here, I didn't come here for more excuses! You're not as important as you think you are, and our boss is on a time table! So stop fucking around and give us something to prove your investment was worthwhile."

The chemist wisely decided to raise one of her eyebrows in pure skeptical contempt, "I'm supposed to say, 'or else', right? Or else what? Maybe you'll sell me overseas, _trafficker?_ I heard you boyos are into kidnapping little girls, now. They make you feel so good?"

Brownie's meaty hand wrapped itself around the mocking girl's bare neck and hoisted her upward, bringing them face to face. Despite her feet dangling in the air, the girl maintained a strong, sneering façade, not even bothering to grab Brownie's wrist to bring her weight off her neck as her hands remained pompously fixed at her waist.

"Where'd you hear that? Who told you about our operations!?" The smuggler spat into her face.

"Oh, the little bunny told me," the chemist grunted.

"Bunny…? The rabbit faunus!? She's still alive!?"

"Oh ho, so you do know her!"

The giant thug shook the girl, eliciting a sharp hiss as her neck was throttled, before snarling again, "Tell me where she is! Tell me now!"

The chemist made a face and shrugged. Brownie, incensed already, slammed her into the side of one of the subway cars. Velvet gasped fearfully, watching everything happen from a distance, helplessly, _again_. One hand immediately grabbed for the gun poking out of her jacket pocket, and she waited, hoping she could intervene at the right time.

Brownie shouting at the men behind him, "Come on! She can't have gone far! Tear this place apart for clues, and grab all the Dust you can see while you're at it. I'm gonna soften this bitch up, see if she's more amenable then. Go!"

Like the energy of a gang of immature children broke loose, the smaller gangsters cheered and began plucking the canisters of yellow Dust and overturning tables full of fragile scientific equipment, while more began looking around for the missing faunus. Machinery smashed onto the concrete floor, scattering glass and circuitry.

"Hey! You bastards! Stop messing with my stuff-!" The chemist began to protest, before she was slammed back into the subway car.

Brownie glared, "I'm on a short fuse here. We're already taking all your Dust, since that's all your retarded science fair projects were worth, anyways. The only thing you got is the blood in your body, and you better answer my questions, or the only thing left here tonight will be your smear the police will have to pry off the wall just to identify you!"

"Brownie, darling, you're appeal is lowering quite fast. Are you _threatening _me?"

The fingers squeezed around the girl's neck.

"Is that a dare? Let's see how far your precious Dust gets you when I snap your neck like a twig!"

However fierce Brownie's expression was, it was rooted in a belief of superiority. It had nothing on the girl's glare, born of a threat to her world, her den. Something animal was welling up in her, as the small figure leered at the bear.

"You can't kill me! You know why? Because I** quit!**"

With that, the chemist brought her boot up between the legs of the smuggler.

Brownie felt all the air escape his diaphragm at the sheer blistering experience of pain. His eyes bulged, and he made a noise comparable to "Uoounngggh…!" as he began to lower, and his grip on the girl began to slacken. With that, the redhead kicked off the steel wall she had been planted in, and darted over Brownie's shoulder, carrying his wrist with her smaller hands. The great thug yowled in pain, and dropped to his knees and leaned back, trying to make room for his arm that was being pulled behind his back and downward. The fingers of the chemist's other hand darted up and dug themselves into Brownie's soft neck, just about ready to burrow in.

Groaning in mind numbing pain, he could only listen to the gentle sneer beside his ear, "You may have more muscles, Brownie-kins, but you still have the same nerves and bones like the rest of us… and we're all subject to the same natural forces… forces like light… or _physics._"

The pressure on his locked shoulder increased, and Brownie gave a cry of anguish that alerted the smaller men to his plight. Dropping their cargo, they immediately spilled back towards the girl and her hostage. The mass of them seethed, and reached into their jackets, pulling out electrified batons and hand guns, and trained them on her. In response, she rolled back, forcing another gasp of pain from Brownie, hiding herself behind his large body.

"Go ahead and shoot, you bilge scum! Fill your pal with bullets!"

"You're dead, bitch! We were playing softball before, but you had to go and act like some hero! You're not leaving here alive!" One of the men spat.

The chemist rolled her eyes, even with the smile on her face still in place, "Oh good, at least we know where we stand with each other! Now I don't feel bad at all about pulping you doofuses!"

Planting both her feet against Brownie's broad back, the chemist kicked, sending the smuggler through the air and slamming onto his stomach and sliding several feet so that he crashed into the ankles of more than a few thugs, bowling them over. In an instant, the redhead's limber figure flipped backwards and turned herself into a somersaulting blur, while she heard Brownie all but scream, "Kill her! Fucking kill her!"

Before the rest of the smugglers could raise their own guns, the window of the subway car next to them suddenly burst apart, as Velvet rose up and fired frantically through it. She had no intent on actually shooting _at_ the men, as much as she hated them, but her bullets leaving pockmarks in the ground and pinging of the subway cars was enough to send them scrambling back from her denied area long enough to let her new ally duck out of sight.

Until she ran out of bullets. Velvet's training didn't go very far. Her finger slammed down on the trigger several futile times, before she looked down, almost dumbfounded that her wild rapid fire would end so soon.

She took one glance up before yelping and throwing herself to the floor just in time for the cabin interior around her to start sparking and shrieking as bullets were emptied into it. She didn't even notice herself growling in irritation as she crawled away, under the hail of fire, crawling until it turned into a low crouch, until it turned into a half ducking sprint as she raced through the train cars, while bullets crashed through the windows around her. As she reached the last passenger car at the end, she leapt through one of the broken windows. Jagged edges cut at her thick coat and at the edges of her skirt, but she cleared it all the same, slamming onto her stomach outside inelegantly with a little "oof!"

As she landed, she heard a high pitched whistle, and saw the chemist ahead of her, halfway inside the open bank vault, fingers in her mouth, and her other hand waving at her.

"Oiyo, darling! In here!"

Velvet grunted, and picked herself up, running as fast as she could, while experiments, sheets of papers, and tables exploded around her from smuggler gunfire, throwing plastic and wood every way. With one final cry of effort, Velvet dove inside the vault, while her companion slammed it shut behind them, the heavy steel doors easily cutting though the thick rubber cables that fed inside to seal the two of them inside.

Outside bullets slammed into the thick metal, and the thugs approached, before Brownie, mostly recovered shouted at them to stop.

"They're not going anywhere. It's a vault, not a panic room. They'll run out of air soon enough. I want half you guys to start packing the Dust. The rest of us, we're waiting them out. The moment those doors open, the only thing I want to see is them gasping for breath and mercy right before I put a bullet through their brains!"

* * *

In the pitch blackness, two figures faintly shuffled around. Even the faunus' night vision could do nothing in a complete absence of light.

"Man, that was really badass, darling! You just popped out and unloaded on their asses! Are you a huntress? You totally are a huntress, ain'tcha? I bet you use a scythe and everything! You sexy beast!"

"Look, I don't use… I mean, I'm not… ugh. How do we get out of here?"

"…Out?"

"…We came in here because there's a second exit out of here, right? I mean, a way to escape?"

"The heck you talkin' about, darling? This is a bank vault you know. It's not gonna very secure if there any other hatches in here, 'cept the one we came in through."

"…Are you telling me we're trapped in an airtight vault!?"

"Just for a moment. Now, where did I put it…"

"A moment!? We probably only have a few minutes of air in here! Ugh! I'm hyper ventilating!"

"Ah ha!"

With that proclamation, something managed to find something, and a sharp cracking noise emanated, followed by the inside of the narrow vault being illuminated by a pale green glow as the chemist held a glow stick before her. Velvet could make out that same savage grin of amusement she always had.

"Only a few minutes, darling? I only need one to get changed, then I can _really_ entertain the kids outside."

"Change…?"

Velvet's eyes followed the chemist as she made her way to the back of the vault, where something was hanging in front of a pair of large lamps. Had the power not been cut off, they would have been constantly shining burning light onto the fabric…

* * *

Brownie grinned to himself, looking at that closed vault. It was like a little Schrödinger's toy for himself. His imagination took him to fantasies of watching the two brats inside gasp and fight for air, trying to hold out from the inevitable tide…

* * *

The slick fabric slipped over the girl's shoulders, hands slipping through the sleeves, and her head popping up through the neck hole. She could feel weight of her invention, the Fairy Operating Xylem, the network of durable, flexible tubes that the material atop concealed…

* * *

More men gathered outside the vault, their guns trained on the closed door.

"Any minute now!" Brownie laughed.

* * *

"It's getting a bit hard to breathe!" Velvet fretted.

The gloves were on next, and the connectors at the wrist slid under the sleeves, slotting into waiting points.

* * *

"Think they can screw with us… I'm not gonna let her die quick…"

* * *

And the best part was the hat. You couldn't call it a set without that comfort of fabric around her brow. Two more cables draped down the side of her head, so she could slot them into the ports sitting at her collar area.

* * *

All of Brownie's posturing only served to pick at his wounded pride, and his anger burned hotter with every promise of revenge.

"You hear me, you bitch!? You and the rabbit are spit roast! There's not gonna be enough left to fill a tin can when we're finished with you! You picked the wrong people to mess with, you hear me!?"

* * *

She ran a finger down her new clothing, testing the weight and rigidity. She could feel the internal channels heavy with the fluid they contained, flowing freely inside her clothes.

"Absorption rate is optimal, fuel supply is topped out… alrighty, then…"

The girl swiveled around.

"Show time!"

She raised her palm at the vault door.

* * *

The smugglers gathered around the metal box weren't sure what happened, but there was a noise, and then an explosion ripped the massive vault door from its hinges and locks sending it flying forward. The men were only lucky enough to leap out of the way as the door smashed halfway into a subway car.

From the black expanse of the opening, the chemist stepped out, and snapped her fingers. At her command, a flood light snapped open, preprogrammed for the exact occasion needed to bath her silhouette in an attention catching white light, and she grinned and swung her hand out to the side in a flourish.

She was wearing a forest green jacket, engraved with the endless hexagonal honeycombing that pulsed gold as it drank in the light. The sleeves were not conforming, but instead the material on the underside webbed out to stretch along the sides of the jacket like canvas. Her hat, with a brim shaped like a sharp diamond with long tips to the front and back, was made of the same material, and did its part to keep eating light, pouring energy down the lines on either side of her head. Her gloves were fully concealing, each finger tip ending with a brassy emitter, like thimbles, and on the palm and back of her hands were large disc-like lenses.

"If you boys had asked politely, I might have shown you my new toy! Well, actually, I still am going to show you my FOX-Skin and FOX-Gloves… just not from the angle you'd guys like, right?"

"Shoot her! Goddamn it, someone shoot her!"

Brownie's order was five words too late, as the armed chemist stretched her hands to the side, palms facing down. Liquid Fairy Dust and absorbed light that the FOX stored both of, surged towards the gloves, and blasts of solid, hybridized light and Dust fired downward. Two brilliant columns sent the redheaded girl shrieking with revenge tainted glee and upward above the crowd of men. In the air, she pointed her palms down, and the FOX Gloves spat light again, bolts of solidified hardlight barking out and slamming into the chests of two of the men, punching them into the ground. The two emitters on the back of the gloves fired up next, and the bizarre exhaust propelled the Gloves' owner into the center of the crowd like a comet, where she immediately set to work with more wild shrieks.

By that time, Velvet had emerged from the ignored vault next, and was watching her ally fight.

Guns were useless at that range, and inexplicably, it seemed everything else was as well. The green fighter laughed, darting and slipping between men and missing their furious strikes, twisting her body to and fro like she had no bones left, fight before she as equally snapped from limp noodle to a whipping iron cord. She threw out her palm, hardlight exhaust propelling her entire strike across the ground into the chest of a smuggler, sending him tumbling back, before she kept striking one man to another in an array of martial arts. Knife chops, knife hand stabs, elbow strikes, and palm thrusts struck with surprising efficiency.

One of the thugs managed to swing at the chemist with an electrified baton, before his downward strike was interjected by the girl's raised arm blocking the man at the wrist, right before the brassy finger tips in her other hand glowed and grew golden claws that she swiped at the baton, cutting it into four pieces. The man stared dumbfounded, before a hardlight propelled double palm strike to the chest sent him flying across the room.

Velvet watched this melee, but was also observing where the redhead had failed. From where she stood, the rabbit could see a battlefield. The green girl was engaged with many, but failed to pay attention to stragglers at the edges, who were trying to get a bead on her with their handguns.

"Watch out! They're going to shoot you!"

The chemist, warned just as she kicked away another thug that left her alone and exposed, immediately swirled around, swinging her hands around her as her FOX Gloves fired up. Men fired at her, but the bullets instead only collided with a thick curtain of light, golden butterflies exploding from the girl's hands, illusionary, yet solid enough to deflect the gunfire. The chemist's gloves fired downward, flinging the girl away from the field of fire, while her opponents chased after her.

In that moment, more than a few of the smugglers remembered there were two girls they were supposed to be gunning for, and turned their eyes and their arms on Velvet, who ducked away as bullets rained on her again, scrambling away to hid behind the control booth in the center of the impromptu arena.

Velvet swore dirtily to herself, caught up in the fight. Angelica and her manners was far away, but the gun men were taking a step with every shot fired. She had to fight back, but she had no bullets. She might have well have no weapon at all, then.

But even as that dark thought passed through her head, along with more than a few narrowly missing bullets, Velvet's mind was already calmly reassessing.

_No, I still have a weapon, it has a supply of Dust. It just needs something to focus through…_

The gunfire dulled in her ears as she looked at the ground, at the dozens of scattered experiment parts that had been broken over the course of the battle.

…_Something which is patently obvious._

Velvet grabbed for her gun, memories of self education helping her remember how to tear out the useless magazine, and after, the fore-barrel and slide. All she needed was what was in the back, while she grabbed for the replacements she needed.

The suited smugglers slowly edged forward, guns raised, though they had stopped firing a few second ago, when they realized their target behind the booth had made no sound or movement since. More than a few sneered, believing that the rabbit eared subhuman was either dead from the bullets passing where they should have gone, or simply cowering in a ball as her kind was wont to do.

They were thus unprepared as they saw Velvet jump up to aim through the windows of the bullet pocked booth, hands wrapped around a mish mash of gun grip, Dust emitter, and wiring, all jammed together. It shouldn't have worked.

Velvet pulled the trigger. It still did.

There was a thunderous noise, as explosive Dust channeled through co-opted machinery, and into the emitter replacing the gun's barrel. The triangular array channeled the power, and discharged white lightning from the prongs.

Perhaps not as lethal as a bullet, but the men watched stunned as the bolt of converted Dust struck one of their number and sent him backwards, gagging and twitching as he slammed to the floor.

Whatever composure they had left rapidly drained as Velvet began her rapid fire once again, each trigger pull this time spitting loud, violently visible lightning that jumped from her into each of them, one after the other. Then _she _began to advance on them.

Brownie, amid all this, watched in growing horror as two girls, two _slips_ of a girl were now on the attack, wiping out what should have been a small army of larger, better armed thugs. But now they were falling left and right, blasted and smashed senseless.

Choking, he turned around to one of his still sensible minions, shouting at him, "Go and get the Bandersnatch! Go and get it right now-"

"_ATCHYAAAH!"_

As the man left, Brownie heard the scream behind him, and twisted around to watch the chemist he was supposed to be intimidating, slide into view while surfing atop the face of one of his men, arms stretched behind her to direct a burst of gold light.

Brownie choked, and reached into his jacket to pull his baton of his own out, and did his best to ignore the slight shaking in his wrist.

The chemist hopped off, and paced towards him, one brilliant blue eye visible from under the sharp angled brim of her hat, "Brownie-kins? Is that you? Come and give me a kiss!"

The mountainous smuggler roared and charged towards her, his arm strength able to turn his swinging baton into blur of blue electricity. All the same, the green girl snorted, ducked, and weaved around each wild and enraged strike, forearms and hands expertly deflecting and parrying others. A thrust finally allowed her to trap Brownie's arm with her wrists, dragging him forward and off balance, allowing one of her feet to slam into the side of one of his knees, making him drop onto them. Furiously resisting, the larger gangster swung as he could, only for his arm to be caught by the chemist and swirled around, until his meatier limb was pinned under her arm and armpit.

Her palm pressed into the small of his back. He stared at her helplessly. She shrugged, right before her palm fired a blast of light.

Brownie cart wheeled through the air, tumbling feet and head and spinning off the chemist's arm. Helplessly suspended, there was nothing he could do but look upside down at the small girl, whose palm was raised, back of the Glove firing light with enough force to spin her in place right before she planted her Dust powered hand into the large smuggler with enough force to send him hurtling through the air and into the side of the subway car with enough force to bury him deep into the metal, which bent and contorted to form a subway angel. Brownie, upside down and consumed by agony, choked, while his eyes rolled down, leaving white pupils and froth leaking from his mouth, all but brain dead.

"Who's the smear on the train, now!? HA!"

"Holy crap, Brownie's out…!"

Whatever conscious thugs left muttered in disbelief. The chemist laughed loudly, and pointed around.

"Ya betcha! So you losers just drop my shit and clear out now!"

Men groaned and carried themselves and others away, while a few more pried their unconscious leader out of the subway, and carried him over their shoulders. As the room cleared, Velvet regrouped with her, panting, nerves shot.

"It's over?" The rabbit faunus gasped, relieved.

The chemist shrugged, "Actually I dunno. I think the big bear said something about a Bandersnatch…?"

Velvet's eyes widened, "A what…? Oh no, I hope it's not the-"

The faunus' vain hopes were dashed by the sound of heavy galloping, before the entrance stairwell broke apart, steel and concrete flying every which way, as a familiar gigantic, multi armed combat machined crawled its way into the subway even when its human allies were quickly escaping. Towering over the two girls, it menacingly stretched out its arms, all of them poised to attack.

Velvet took an uncertain step back, while the hands wrapped around her Franken-weapon tightened until they were bone white. She could recall the sight of the silver girl, being thrown and broken against the earth by this Bandersnatch.

Her compatriot, however, laughed, "Ha! So Brownie was only worth a mid-boss, huh? That must suck for his ego," Reaching behind her back, the chemist withdrew a small canister of Fairy Dust which was tipped at one end with a short syringe, which she jabbed into her other sleeve, puncturing the first layer and into the xylem underneath. The FOX-Skin rippled and bloated for a second, drinking in the reloading fluid, up until its owner threw away the emptied canister, and fixed herself into a stance, "Alright, tin can! Show me what you got, but I'll have you know I'm trained in the mystical art of Kung Fuck You Up! Come at me!"

Velvet did not share the same enthusiasm, and just as well, since she started retreating as the Bandersnatch charged. The green fighter, however, matched the war machine's challenge, running straight for it and its whipping arms. At the last minute, the girl kicked forward, her FOX Gloves firing just enough to keep sliding her across the ground, narrowly missing several fists that punched into the ground after her, while she slid between the Bandersnatch's legs. Gold claws sparked from her finger tips as she passed underneath, and the chemist slashed at the leg on either side of her, scoring red hot gashes in its armor. Grabbing one of the less used arms, she used her momentum to swing up and off the ground like on a rope, arcing around until she slammed her boots onto Bandersnatch's shoulder from behind. Holding on for her life, she nonetheless used the opportunity to fire several point blank blasts of light from her palm, pure force smashing into the fortified head armor, before trying to simply pry the thing off with her hardlight claws. She lasted all of five seconds, before one of the arms segmented into a whip again, whirling around to bat her off the war machine, sending her crashing onto the roof of the subway cars.

The Bandersnatch swiveled to face the stunned green fighter, arms raised to smash their weight down on her, before gunfire sounded, and something like lightning bombarded its chest with enough force to send it into the subway train opposite, crushing the cars. Velvet, behind the car her companion had landed on, fired her modified gun through the train, through the windows, blasts one after another rocking the trapped machine. The chemist shook her head, spat, and then raised her palms to join Velvet in the hail of shots, yellow hardlight and white lightning force raining down onto the Bandersnatch. But even as its armor buckled and rattled, the machine continued to slowly sit back up.

"This isn't working! Our weapons aren't armor piercing!" Velvet shouted over the din of their combined firepower.

"Bah! It's not like we can do anything else!"

Couldn't they? Or were they just not looking hard enough for the answer. Velvet fired, while her eyes danced around, trying to find something fast enough, or heavy enough to-

Well, _of course._

Velvet looked up, and shouted, "Can you distract it?"

"Distract it? What am I _not_ doing, bunny!?"

"Look, I have an idea, but I need to leave for a moment! I need you to drag it over to the tracks on the opposite side of the room!"

"…Aw man, that's going to make such a _mess_!"

"Just do it!"

The chemist leaned back, narrowly avoiding a multi-ton straight punch that shot over her nose, while she shouted back, "Fine!" Without further encouragement, the rabbit faunus turned on her heels and ran for her life, while the remaining fighter continued to fight the upright Bandersnatch, its spade like blades stabbing and slashing at her. The girl ran across the subway carriages, one hand on her hat, while she flipped and dodged out the way, her free glove firing hardlight thrust every few moments to extend her air time, while the Bandersnatch's rapid strikes shredded steel around her.

As the chemist leapt for it, one segmented arm fired out and slammed into her chest. The girl choked loudly from the impact, but in the same instant growled, and wrapped her gloved hands around the limb, clinging to the arm as it sent her through the air, until her weight brought both her and the outstretched limb back onto the subway train, boots first.

The Bandersnatch noted the oddity on its limb, and began to retract it, trying to pull it free from the little meaty thing that was holding on tight. The redhead gritted her teeth, and kept her grip, even as her feet squealed across the roof.

"You wanna play!? You won't win… a game of tug of war when I'm wearing the speed of light…!"

It was a heavy exaggeration, of course, but whatever power the FOX contained, it was more than sufficient, as its owner pinned the Bandersnatch limb against her arms and side to free her hands. Roaring alongside the sound of her firing gloves, the chemist became a hardlight powered rocket, a green blur that flew off the subway with enough force that the antagonistic machine was dragged along for the ride, pulled off its feet and across the wrecked room until both of them crashed onto the train tracks on the opposite end of the room, as Velvet had ordered.

The chemist almost landed almost comedically, falling on her back and rolling once or twice before stopping, her arms and legs flopping onto ground, while her cargo simply scraped onto the tracks. The two stood at the same time, the girl kicking up with her legs to jump back onto her feet, while the giant war machine slowly, almost drunkenly, jammed its many arms underneath itself to right itself.

With a long suffering sigh, the redhead brushed the surface of her jacket, and repeated with her hat after she unplugged the cables and pulled it off her head.

"Well, you were lots of fun tonight, darling. But I think we should stay as friends, after we finish our business relationship, you know?"

She could feel the vibrations of the tracks under her feet, and she put her hat back on.

"So, I think it's time to show you out. Don't worry, though, the train runs very close by my place. Ciao!"

With a loose salute, she leapt off the train tracks, so that the Bandersnatch saw the empty subway tunnel before it rapidly fill with high speed steel.

The collision was nothing short of epic.

Home Underground's subway, still miraculously working, had been backed up as much as possible in the intervening minutes before sending it careening back into the station, and into the armored droid. Tons of civilian transportation smashed headlong into the Bandersnatch, the front end all but crumpling away, while wheels skipped and automatic breaks activated too late, sparks flying every which way, as the train speared the Bandersnatch and pushed it onward, smashing off the end of the tracks and into the air for breath stopping second, until the derailed line sandwiched the machine into its wrecked, parked sibling back on the other side of the station, mixing all together in a liquefied pile of wreckage. Everything else was continuing chaos, as more train cars followed after, pitching off track and jack knifing every which way, smearing whatever was still upright across the ground, scattering lights, and tearing down cables. The booth Velvet had hid behind was now complete gone, and something caught onto the giant display board and tore it down, impact folding it in half and sending glass and plastic letters and numbers everywhere.

Finally, everything stopped. Here and there, a rivulet of exposed circuitry fired off a shower of sparks, but otherwise, Velvet Scarlatina uneasily left the control room in the side of the station and surveyed the carnage.

She stared for the longest time, jaw dropped, until she uneasily asked.

"Uh… miss…? Miss…!? Are you okay!?"

Shrieking laughter answered her, and Velvet saw the girl's familiar shape approach, ducking under Something That Might Have Been Something, completely beside herself.

"Holy shit, Darling! Holy… holy… you just… we just… You just killed a giant robot with a train! I knew what we were going to do, but holy hell, _look at all this_!"

"I'm so sorry! I couldn't think of anything at the moment, and I thought maybe the remote controls still worked, and…" Velvet began to babble and apologize, before the chemist raised a palm to halt her. The rabbit was half convinced the redhead was about to shoot her in the face with her fancy machines, but then she realized she was just making a motion universally recognized as "stop". She would have to work on figuring out the cues.

"Look, what happened here was just a logical progression. If you didn't arrive to warn me about those jerks outside, this place would have been a lot cleaner, and I would have probably been a lot… deader, I guess. Never quite sure where Brownie is concerned. So I'm just going to focus on the fact you _killed a giant robot with a train._ We are officially the two most badass people in all of Vale! I'm going to kiss you-"

"Don't," Velvet flatly answered, the ridiculous flirting immediately halting her panic.

"Alright. This place is a mess pretty much, but since you helped me out-"

"Wait, do you smell smoke?" Velvet asked, worriedly sniffing the air. That noxious scent was growing amid the mixture of steel and grease, and it smelled not unlike the sort of smoke started by burning paper…

"Smoke? Wait, that means- AGH! FIRE!" The chemist shrieked, looking behind her. Velvet then noticed the smoke she was smelling, which was coming from a pyre that was starting to grow uncomfortably high.

"Oh crap, is that fire gonna get into my-" The unfortunate home owner complained, right before the far end of the train station exploded in a brilliant flash of gold light. She gave another shriek of horror.

"Daagh! My Fairy Dust! My schematics! My experiments! My **Science!**"

Velvet, at the very least, had her head screwed on straight, having been a responsible care taker at her orphanage. She knew exactly what to do in the situation of a fire. Especially ones that was setting off stray canisters of highly potent Dust.

She grabbed as much sleeve as the other girl's jacket had, and pulled, hissing, "Where's the emergency escape!?"

* * *

Outside, the open mouth of Home Underground began to belch black smoke, first in fine rivulets, then a whole endless cloud, catching the attention of by standers here and there, that approached, curious yet uninvolved.

A block down, a sewer manhole had its lid blown off, a raised palm raised into the air before grabbing for the edge of the portal. Within seconds, a girl in green grunted and pulled herself out, followed by a rabbit faunus in a messy brown dress.

There were a few uneasy wheezes and coughs, before the ex-occupant of the underground station lamented.

"My science… MY SCIENCE! It's all gone! They killed my science!"

Listening, the two of them could make out the sound of squealing tires, and Velvet saw a number of nondescript vans leaving the scene. Her companion made the connection easily enough, chasing after the departing vehicles a few steps before shaking her raised fists at them.

"Pirates! Mountebanks! Bashibazouks! **Assholes!** I'll have your _living hides_ for this, you hear me!? AAARGH!"

She turned back to Velvet, who was still catching her breath, gun practically glued to her right hand by this point.

"Darling, we're going after them! We're going after them and kicking their asses! All my science is gone thanks to them! Now I'm gonna have to start all over again!"

"That's why I came to you in the first place," Velvet said between breaths. Her latest rush of adrenaline was leaving and it was starting to make her head hurt, "I need your help against these smugglers. We both have something to gain from this. I need to save someone, and you need to stop them from harassing you when they come back."

"I'm with you! Don't doubt me at all, darling! I am totally behind this!" The chemist growled.

The rabbit nodded, "Good. Then I need some information. Do you know where their base of operations is?"

The girl opened her mouth, ready to answer, before she closed it, eyebrows furrowing as she tried to think, "Uh… er…"

"…_You don't know?_" Velvet said, dumbfounded.

"W-well, it's at a dock, right? They ship overseas, yeh?"

"How can you not know!? I thought you did business with them!"

The chemist reared back, hurt, "Hey look, bunny, we weren't that close. I just made stuff and the picked it up and left! That's how it worked!"

Velvet truly wanted to be angry at this ridiculous, promiscuous, dancing fairy of a hardlight using clown of a scientist at the moment. She was angry, in fact, just plain angry. She had to put up with this girl, then be shot at some more, thrust into more life or death situations, crash a train and set a place on fire, and at the end, there was no reward. Not a single clue. How much time had she wasted? Those smugglers were sailing away tonight, with that girl in it, and she just chased after… nothing!

"Look, lady, I'm really sorry! But, uh, I'm gonna help you, right?"

Velvet groaned, and ran her hands through her face, trying to push her rage away. Not knowing the location was not this girl's fault, like she said. The faunus should have known better than to raise her hopes up so highly. Yes, there was a business relationship, but she herself saw how one sided it was. It wasn't surprising the smugglers wouldn't tell their supplier where they holed up.

It was a lead that didn't produce results. That was all. Breathe, Velvet, breathe. Wherever they were, they hadn't gone just yet. There was still time.

"It's alright," Velvet sighed, bringing the weight in her lungs back under control, "It's alright. I still can't do this alone. I do need your help."

The chemist grinned, before grabbing Velvet's free hand empathically, "You got it!"

Velvet smiled, for reasons she wasn't sure herself, before thinking aloud, "If you don't know… there's only one other place left I can go for leads. Do you know any park in Vale with a large homeless population? One with an infamous resident?"

"Famous hobo encampments…" The chemist hummed to herself, "Wait, there is one. With this lady. This is all very hear say, but I hear she's like… I don't know, a real hardass."

"Do you know where she is? Can you take me there?" Velvet asked, intensely, eyebrows furrowed.

The girl nodded, "Sure, you got a car?"

"Follow me, and hurry, we don't have much time."

Velvet dislodged herself from her ally, and beckoned to follow, back towards the growing column of smoke. Only now did sirens begin to wail in the distance.

The girl fixed her hat and sighed as she approached her disintegrating abode.

"Place totally burned down… Aw man, my mom's gonna laugh at me when she finds out. '_I knew you couldn't take care of yourself, you idiot…!'_ Meh."


End file.
